


Seesaw

by SplashTOMATO



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Savers | Digimon Data Squad
Genre: Boys In Love, Boys' Love, Digital World, Falling In Love, M/M, Major Character Injury, NaNoWriMo, Post-Canon, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 44,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29421282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SplashTOMATO/pseuds/SplashTOMATO
Summary: Post-canon, pre-epilogue ToMaTo Tohma x Masaru/Thomas x Marcus BL. NaNoWriMo 2020 fic. Tohma gets stuck on Masaru's side of the seesaw for a week.
Relationships: Daimon Masaru | Marcus Damon/Tohma H. Norstein | Thomas H. Norstein
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Day 0

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, I'm continuing some odd trend of titling all my Savers fics with a "C". RIGHT?? *runs*
> 
> For some extraneous context, I rewatched all of Digimon series 1-5 = Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers... Including movies, in chronological order, within about a half year span starting in early 2020. It was good getting my husband's take on things since it was his first time with literally any of it. I also replayed the Savers PS2 game, Another Mission (English title for this is Digimon World Data Squad). There are a couple cameos from Another Mission, but it's not too important if you don't know anything that happened from the game. There are elements from other Digimon series too... I won't go into detail here. They come as they are. I won't be labeling the other series into this either, as everything is still intended to fall under the unique scope of the Digimon Savers world.
> 
> I took some... huge liberties in the Digivice functions within the Digital World, please don't mind! And making up a lot of things about the Savers Digital World in general. That's just the inherent thing about the setting of this whole gig, so let's roll with it~
> 
> And then, on another matter...
> 
> Survival in the Digital World in Savers can definitely go in this convenient af direction with the Digivices as I portrayed, or it could be stuck in Daimon Suguru's era of first time exploration into the unknown, with limited supplies... I'd prefer to believe that their understanding of the Digital World progressed far beyond that soon enough, if they were able to establish Digimon partner links, evolution, and all that whatnot by the time Yoshino et al were able to join DATS.
> 
> And so, on yet another matter...
> 
> In my head, I see a lot of parallels among my OTPs... When it comes to Tohma/Masaru, I find myself seeing these parallels often when I'm diving into Jude/Milla (Tales of Xillia/Xillia 2), or more recently Flynn/Yuri (Tales of Vesperia) and Claude/Byleth (Fire Emblem Three Houses). For all of these, there's the mutual 'aiming for the same end goal, even if we're in different places and doing different things' motif: Harmony between different worlds/cultures (Savers, Xillia, FE3H), building a better society (applies to all, but definite emphasis on Vesperia). I don't REALLY want to bring in the whole "distance makes the heart grow fonder" concept, but I can't deny that that ends up being a huge factor in... all of these pairings....... *WEEPS* No, for the sake of love, give them happy and together endings...!
> 
> The ebb and flow of balance checks between the two in the pair is also significant. Work that seesaw.
> 
> Apparently, I'm just a big sucker for these things. So... Let's celebrate it!

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Day 0

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The young fighter stared up at the sky, wondering how things were going on the other side, in the human world. Would he be in school at this time right now if he were still there? Instead of in this current predicament?

And after school, would he still be heading to DATS HQ? Would he still be working with the others he'd gotten to know so well, he'd be thinking of them at a time like this...

But no, DATS had long been disbanded, with no one allowed to enter or leave the Digital World. He was the only human in the Digital World, and each day was always full of exciting adventures... except this right now was a little TOO exciting...

Masaru was reminded of the seesaw he played on once in a while when he was a little kid. Back then, he'd have to depend on another random kid playing in the park to be on the other side, since his old man was no match for his small stature. Even if his old man tried, Masaru wouldn't have been able to touch the ground whatsoever--he'd be stuck on the high end of the seesaw until his father finally let him back down. It was his father's way of pulling a bit of a prank, the way he remembered it... And that was just how seesaws work; someone needed to be on the other side for anything to happen, and then what happened between the two depended on who was putting more force into it and when. Just playing on a seesaw could get so complicated depending on the parties involved...

His thoughts were cut short as his yellow reptile friend, on the other side of the 'seesaw', jolted him back to reality.

"What do we do, Aniki?! This isn't the time to daze out!"

"Aha..."

Yep, it definitely wasn't the time to daze out. But at the same time, as long as neither of them moved, they would be safe... maybe?

Masaru took a long, slow look at their surroundings. Just a moment ago, he had been walking along a thin plank of wood that was stretched over a vast valley. He knew it was an ominous omen the moment he saw it and the deep, dark pit below them, but it was their only way across after their recent scuffles with a certain antagonist. And they needed to get some distance from that antagonist as soon as possible.

The wooden plank was so thin, he knew it was going to break if the both of them put their weight on the same end. Considering the massive fall below them, he didn't want to take any more risk than necessary. So Masaru had volunteered to go first, and had almost made it to the other end... But Agumon just had to make his start before Masaru gave the clearing. The yellow reptile's impatience got to the better of him.

He was so close to the other end, but by whatever fate it had to be, as soon as Agumon stepped onto the plank... Snap. The thin plank broke at both ends, and the two of them were left to hang on for dear life as it fell beneath the cliffs... And onto a protrusion of more rock exactly halfway between the cliffs. By some miracle, the plank stayed on the protrusion without snapping again, rocking the two back and forth for a while until they had managed to establish a careful equilibrium and get the rocking to stop.

They had effectively gotten stuck on a seesaw where the only ground below them was hundreds and hundreds of meters away.

Masaru checked to see if there was a way to get the both of them back onto the cliff, particularly on the proceeding side where Masaru was... But the cliff was beyond his own reach regardless of whether or not Agumon could make it too.

So yeah, as long as neither of them moved, they were okay. But obviously, that wasn't going to get them anywhere in the long run. They were pretty screwed.

"Aniki~~... NOOOO I don't wanna die yet!!"

"Idiot, don't move around like that! You'll make us both fall!"

"Waa! Then what should we do?!?"

"Just hold on, there's gotta be something..." Except he had already looked around and found the situation a bit hopeless. "If I could get my Digisoul to get you into Burst Mode..."

He needed to reach Agumon to get that special Digisoul going, but that seemed to be another complication. There was a good seven or so meters distance between them, and keeping them afloat on that narrow center proved to be quite the arduous task in itself. He contemplated winging the whole thing and just trying to catch Agumon so they could make their getaway in mid-air, but he could only imagine that turning out to be his last risk before a brutal end.

For the briefest of moments, he thought of a certain someone who would have the solution for such a dilemma...

Someone he'd been avoiding thinking about for a long while...

"Aniki, look! What's that above you?"

He looked up again. For some reason, he spotted a rift in the sky that wasn't there just earlier. It was gradually getting larger. What next? Was the next miracle happening where a meteor would come crashing down on him?

He was kidding to himself, as he recognized what that rift was, covered with black and green crosswire patterns. It'd been years since he saw one, but he was still all too familiar with it. Someone was coming in from a Digital Dive portal from the human world.

A few more seconds passed and Masaru soon saw who came out of the Digital Gate as it hurled towards his direction. Clad in a white lab coat and tie, it was...

Tohma...

He barely had any time to react once he recognized who it was, as moments later, they had come crashing into each other. The balance of the wooden plank was instantly ruined, and as Masaru went down, Agumon went up and away. Away so high, launched into the sky, and disappearing right into where Tohma had appeared in the rift.

Masaru didn't have the freedom to lament Agumon's disappearance just yet though, as the plank completely toppled over and sent the two humans tumbling between the cliffs. At this rate, they were both falling to their deaths.

Still, Tohma's bewildered expression had to be matching his own. Why of all times did he appear now...

Suddenly, he sensed a shadow looming behind the other man.

"Tohma, watch out!"

Masaru grabbed onto the blond's shoulder with his left arm and pulled the two of them closer, while he threw his right arm past the both of them. A loud crack ensued--Masaru had just broken the plank behind Tohma before it had fallen on top of them in mid-air.

Right after the save, Tohma gripped Masaru's waist.

"Grab on!!"

Technically, Masaru was already grabbing onto his shoulder, so he only knew to grab harder.

Click and whoooosh, out came a massive parachute from Tohma's backpack, which Masaru just then noticed he had on. He felt a jolt as the parachute expanded and put a sharp brake on their descent, forcing him to cling tighter onto Tohma for support.

He hadn't seen Tohma in who knows how long. But the start of their strange, unintended reunion was met with him clinging onto Tohma for dear life.

...Oh boy.

He made some space between them as soon as they landed at the bottom of the valley. Tohma immediately went to bundle up the parachute before it completely hit the ground and got covered in dust.

Well, at least they were alive for now.

"So what the heck happened to Agumon?"

"He'll be fine," came the familiar deep voice, still as silky as ever, "He just went to where I came from."

"And why are YOU here?"

"Research purposes. I need a certain sample, and its latest appearance was in this valley," Tohma replied as he swiftly folded the parachute together. "Never expected you to be here though. How in the world did you end up in a situation like that anyway?"

"Well, we were crossing this bridge... I went ahead since I'm the leader... and then when Agumon crossed..."

Tohma just shook his head in response.

"Nevermind, spare me the details."

"Haa?! You're the one who asked in the first place!"

Tohma turned away to set aside the tidied-up parachute, recalling it and his whole backpack into his Digivice. "Perhaps in the slimmest of hopes that after these years, you've changed and obtained a certain wealth of knowledge from being here...But I suppose that wasn't the case."

Seeing that nostalgic black and cool blue Digivice was definitely not enough to ease the burn. Masaru gawked in dismay.

"Well, you haven't changed at all either! Still as cocky as ever..."

"Is that how you treat the person who just saved your life?"

"Haa? I was fine until you showed up!"

"I saw the situation you were in, and that didn't look 'fine' to me. How would you have gotten anywhere if I didn't have that parachute?"

"........"

Masaru paused at Tohma's reasoning, knowing fully well that he needed to give credit where it was due.

"All right, thanks for that."

Tohma, who had his eyebrows furled uncomfortably for a while, finally relaxed with a sigh. "Well, although it seems this really was pure coincidence to come across you like that."

The blond pulled out his DigiWindow, which had also been taken out of his backpack before it was stored into his side pocket. Yet another nostalgic item...

"So how the heck is Agumon supposed to come back?"

"I have the Digital Gate programmed to reopen in one week, so Agumon and I can trade places when that happens," the blond stated as he started walking, his eyes partially on the DigiWindow screen. "The location of the sample changes every so often, so I was hoping to spot it from overhead, but that didn't work out..."

Masaru heard 'one week' and barely heard what came after. "What's Agumon going to do without me for a whole week..."

Tohma didn't even bother looking back as he replied. "My butler will take care of him. He was with me when I Dived. Agumon will no doubt be spoiled rotten while he's there. Don't worry."

"...An aniki's gotta watch over his followers..."

"He'll be fine. You're still fawning over him like he's a child?"

"Hey, don't call my follower a child!"

"Then stop worrying like he IS one!"

"Haa? I'm just... oh, whatever. Geez, you're still so picky and annoying as usual."

"Is that why you're following me?"

"...."

Masaru had barely noticed, but he really was just being a shadow as Tohma made his way through the valley at a brisk pace.

"Weren't you on your way somewhere else before I showed up?"

"Well, it wasn't as if I had a certain place in mind. We were just going where we felt like for the moment."

If he wanted to, he could've told Tohma that he wanted to get some distance from a certain someone else, but he didn't feel the need to bother the genius with that kind of detail. They were safe from that someone down there in the valley anyway...

Tohma stopped in his tracks and finally turned around to face the other man in his presence. "So you wouldn't mind tagging along with me?"

Masaru paused too. Was that... a request?

Tohma tilted his gaze downward slightly. "And sorry about Agumon. He'll be fine though, really."

With a solemn passing of silence, Tohma turned and started proceeding through the valley once again, not waiting for Masaru's answer.

"So NOW you apologize. Took you long enough," Masaru said, malice drained from his words and replaced with sarcasm.

"Wanna punch at me for it?" Tohma said half-provokingly.

"Hell ya!"

Literally asking to get punched? Of course he had to take the opportunity.

Without a moment's rest, Masaru threw a punch at the blond's face--only for the blond to veer away last second. Masaru's fist hit the air near Tohma's cheek as he trotted away.

"Hey, why're you dodging?!"

Tohma just threw back a callous look. "There, you punched at me."

"What?! Take it like a man!!"

Tohma's trot slowed to a near slug's pace all of a sudden, causing Masaru to almost crash into him. Masaru was about to throw another accusation at him, but the near helpless look on Tohma's face made him do a full stop instead.

A very apparently forced smile rose on Tohma's lips. "I think I already did...... A few years back."

Masaru was confused when he first heard him. "What do you mean? No, you..."

Tohma picked up his pace again, back to the swift speed he originally started with.

"Hey, wait up!"

The blond put some distance between them, the sight of which brought a rush of old memories to Masaru's mind.

Instead of seeing the back of the lab coat, he caught a glimpse of Tohma in that short green vest from years back, right before he left the human world...

And a vision of Tohma's dejected profile, after taking a punch with absolutely nothing held back...

'Ah... he really did...'

He really did take those punches like a man. Meanwhile, Masaru...

......

The brunet picked up his own pace to catch up, distracting himself away from the memory.

"Now to get to work..." Tohma took out yet another object, only this time he placed it on the bridge of his nose.

Masaru blinked at him a few times, as if trying to adjust his eyesight. But it was more like Tohma was adjusting his OWN eyesight with those...

"Since when did you wear glasses?"

"Since about a year ago."

Masaru took another solid look at the blond. "......They... look weird on you."

Tohma's expression remained unchanged as he stared back. "Is it that much of a shock?"

"N...No, it's not that..."

Masaru wasn't going to say it out loud by any means, but he had just finally started to notice the physical differences in Tohma compared to when he had last seen him, long ago...

Tohma had gotten taller than him, too...

The brunet felt like he had grown a bit since living in the Digital World, but Tohma was quite noticeably taller now, when before they had been the same height. Any of the lingering 'babyface' qualities he once had were long gone as well.

Although, Masaru remembered noticing those qualities were gradually taking their leave long before he left for the Digital World. It struck him deep in his core as he realized he had missed out on a long gap of this gradual change, and now to see it all at once...

Tohma simply kept pacing on, his lab coat and glasses continuously catching Masaru's eyes.

"It's just... wow, you're really here. How long has it been?"

"Over three years. Getting close to three and a half."

"Three years?!"

Masaru honestly thought that only around a couple years had gone by, but he was off by a full year apparently. All of a sudden, he started thinking of where he had gone so far off track.

"You weren't keeping track of the time? It's on the Digivice..."

"No... "

He knew the Digivice kept track of the time, but he had stopped checking some time ago... He used to check it more frequently when he started off in the Digital World, but lately...

.......

He knew when he fell off track with the time, but he wasn't about to start talking about it right there.

"It's a wonder how you've made it this far, really..."

"Uu..." Masaru lacked the justification for making an objection. A change of subject was at hand. He watched Tohma maneuver through some menus on the DigiWindow. "You've... been doing research all this time?"

"Mm... well, yes."

"For her?"

He could still remember the small blonde girl in her wheelchair, fondly looking upon Tohma for the brief moments she was able to stay around. He still remembered the embrace they shared under the warm sunrise, as she called out "Brother, brother," to Tohma. Tohma rarely spoke of his family, but Masaru was able to infer the situation simply from that single, distinct interaction.

Masaru knew he was terrible with his academics, but when it came to family matters, all was like an open book for him to read with ease.

"A majority of it has been directly for her, yes. But I have other reasons too."

"Other reasons?"

Tohma fell silent for a few paces. "There's no need for you to know that for now."

"Haa?"

"What's important now is that I find the sample within the time limit."

"What exactly is this place you're heading to?"

"I said it moves locations earlier, didn't I? It might take a few days to get to it at the current rate it's moving." Tohma once again looked at the DigiWindow screen, seemingly following the trajectory it was pointing out. Not that Masaru could really understand what was on it anyway. "My landing point was a lot farther from it than I had planned. I'll be rearranging it so that the port re-opens closer to the destination."

"You can do that from here?"

"Yeah."

"Then can't you just open the gate right now and bring Agumon back?"

"Sorry, that I'm unable to do. The buffer needs time to regenerate. I can't use our old methods of Digital Diving because of the effects it has on both worlds, so I've been working with this new method that uses a safer, but more time-consuming algorithm to produce the buffer."

"Geez, how useless. I thought you were the one who developed the Dive equipment, so there'd be something more convenient by now."

"If it were as easy as being allowed to use my old equipment, I most certainly would have used it..." Tohma trailed off, then spoke again on another angle. "You'll only be without Agumon for a few days. Live with it."

"A few days... You mean seven, by a whole week."

"Yes. Seven days."

Tohma's voice was growing more callous by the second.

"Yeah, but..."

"I've been without Gaomon for three years."

Leave it to Tohma to casually drop the bombshell.

"...Sorry."

They walked on in silence.

Masaru could almost hear what Tohma wasn't saying out loud, and it rang in his heart all the same as if he had heard it for real.

("I've been without YOU for three years...")

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-  
3.5 years ago...  
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"You can't be serious about this, Masaru. There's no telling if you'll EVER be able to come back!"

"Yeah, you've told me that already," Masaru replied in a shrugging manner. "But hey, we don't know that for sure. As long as that dream to bring peace to both worlds is still there, there'll always be a possibility. Especially with you around. I'm sure you can come up with something."

Masaru was reorganizing his backpack of stuff for the Digital World after Tohma had pulled him aside and insisted on checking what he had brought with him. After a long, long session of forcing Masaru to get rid of his nonsense items, like his favorite baseball and manga, and replacing them with actual Digital World survival items, the two had a moment to themselves in the DATS locker room. They had spent a good deal of time together there in the past, but all of a sudden, it looked to be their last time.

"You'll be the one and only human in the Digital World until then..."

"Then... wanna join me?"

"You know I can't do that..."

Tohma stood behind Masaru as the brunet started zipping up the backpack on one of the benches.

"Right. You've got someone here you're fighting for." Masaru stood up from the bench and looked to check for other loose zippers. "Look, my family's okay with it. The rest of DATS is okay with it. The rest of the world will just have to take it or leave it, not like it matters to them. You sayin' that you're the only person in the world who ISN'T okay with it?"

"Perhaps so..."

A bit of silence ensued, with Masaru continuing to check the backpack's condition.

With a slightly defeated tone, Tohma murmured, "You're dead set on this."

"Yep. Nothing's gonna stop me!"

Confirming that the last of the zippers sealed the contents, Masaru picked up his backpack and then put it back down quickly to make sure it was stable, He nodded with satisfaction, indicating he was ready to go. "Maybe I'll send you a postcard?" he joked.

Tohma was definitely not amused. "Nothing will stop you..."

Before Masaru could react, Tohma grabbed the brunet by his wristband. "...Even this?"

Tohma jerked Masaru's arm high across his entire front, forcing the brunet to turn from the pull and look at him face-to-face...

And then suddenly it was mouth-to-mouth as well.

Masaru could feel a rush of heat flood his cheeks. "W-Wha..." Barely a word slipped past his lips before Tohma covered it again with his own. Over, and over.

Eventually, the grip on his wrist loosened, and Tohma's hands went around Masaru's back instead. Masaru felt himself backing up a bit, mostly just to get some air...

But Tohma pressed forward again, their foreheads almost touching. When he finally gave Masaru some space, he made an expression that spilled feelings of longing, all directed towards him. "I'll be frank. I don't want you to go."

"Tohma, you..."

"I need you, Masaru."

"Me...? But..."

Masaru had never seen Tohma look so distraught before. He'd seen the genius's expressions of frustration, anger, sorrow, laughter... but nothing on this level before. All walls were down, and all of a sudden, the man holding him was at a point where it looked like his soul, his very being was about to fall apart if Masaru didn't respond. Everything he was seeing was only for him to know at that moment.

Everything was too sudden for the young fighter.

"....."

"You... Tonma!"

One could say his instincts kicked in, or moresay 'punched' in, as a solid fist met with Tohma's face. The impact sent Tohma flying against the lockers behind, and he hit the back of his head upon those lockers.

It looked pretty painful, but Masaru didn't have the mental freedom to be lingering on the thought. Slinging the backpack around his shoulders, he sped out of the locker room, letting the automatic sliding door close upon the last time he would see Tohma before leaving for the Digital World.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

There was no way he would have dealt with that rationally. Who does that kind of thing... confessing those feelings... right before everyone knew he would be leaving for an indefinite amount of time??

He had thought over what to do if he ever saw Tohma again, but he never came to a conclusion...

And he still hadn't...

He had his own thoughts about the two of them that no one else knew, not even Agumon. Not like Agumon would understand anyway. And not like it mattered in the larger picture since he had chosen to leave the human world for so long.

The time he had lost track of had flown by so much faster when his own thoughts weren't bogging him down. And he'd thought he might just possibly let it stay that way for the rest of his days, even if the occasional thought slipped past.

Like being on a seesaw, continuously going up and down... He thought he had perhaps finally gotten off the seesaw altogether. But with Tohma's return, he was going back and forth once again. Going through the highs and lows, feeling certain things he hadn't felt in years...

Tohma was there again, right there in front of him. Masaru looked upon the blond's back, the back that had grown taller over the years, the back that he'd wonder about after all was said and done, slipping past the things he thought he had left behind.

'After three years, are you still...?'

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

For the rest of the day, the two kept walking and arguing as they used to back in the old days, almost as if their relationship had regressed to how they were on their first missions together at DATS. At least their attitudes weren't as toxic towards each other as they were back then. They both seemed to welcome the arguments, however, knowing this was the usual prelude and exposition to keep them on their feet, for when they could finally settle down for the day...

Settling down... The time of day when they could finally let loose some and take their time communicating...

As the sun began to set, things quickly became dark in the valley, as to be expected in an area where sunlight barely reached in the first place. Tohma checked through his DigiWindow once again and sighed.

"The sample jumped again, this time to another valley altogether..."

"Oh?"

"Take a look at the map, Masaru. Are you familiar with the area indicated?"

Masaru peered over the blond's shoulder.

"Uhh, all I see is a bunch of lines."

It took him a long while to figure out what he was looking at, but with Tohma's... lecture, he understood eventually.

"This... valley..." Once Masaru figured out what it was, his expression went still for a moment.

"Something wrong?" Tohma asked, giving a concerned look with his eyebrows.

The brunet quickly shook off his shock and continued. "It's... actually really far away, as in it would take us a good number of days to make it there by foot."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm here for the whole week then, eh? I expected this much."

"It might take us half the week just to get there. There's a large plain area, followed by forests and even more plains on the way just to get to the valley. And the valley itself is huge..."

"It's certainly nice having someone who's familiar with the area here as a guide."

"Heh... It's changed over the years, but you've been there too, once... Doubt you'll recognize it now though."

"Oh, have I? Shame I can't remember right now... Even the geography has changed significantly over these years, so it doesn't ring a bell to me yet." Tohma took another close look at the regional map they were working off of, but then eventually shook his head. "Well... we're near the end of this valley, so we might as well turn in for the night. Won't do us any good to camp out in the open plains, I imagine. I did see a decent spot up ahead to set up camp."

"You're right about that," Masaru found himself agreeing without any contest for what seemed like the first time since their reunion.

Despite all their arguing earlier in the day, they had made good progress on going through the valley with all its rocky flooring and narrow curves. Not to mention that there was literally nothing interesting to look at except walls upon walls of dirt... Turns out all that arguing helped pass the time more smoothly anyway.

With the help of their Digivices, they had a small bonfire and sleeping bags laid out in a spacious but comfy corner in the valley.

"Sandwiches tonight, huh," Masaru said as he sat down at the bonfire and looked at the meal the Digivice had spit out for him. It was just layers of lettuce, cheese, egg, and deli meat wedged between triangular pieces of bread... As simple as it could get. "Gotta hand it to my old man for developing these Digivices. We totally wouldn't have made it this long without these. It stores all the equipment, food... It even realizes ice cream sometimes! Sometimes, I wish the menu wasn't so random though..."

Tohma gave Masaru a slight smile as he propagated a sandwich for himself. "Too bad it doesn't realize your mother's fried eggs."

That Tohma, he just HAD to mention the fried eggs, didn't he... "Heh, yeah..."

They ate in silence, quickly downing the sandwiches to satisfy their stomachs.

Tohma finished with a swig of water from his canteen as they both stared into the bonfire. The Digital World was still chilly at night, especially in the valley they were in, but the bonfire kept them comfortable.

A slow realization settled in with Masaru as he found himself stealing glances at the blond sitting next to him. The realization... that another human was there beside him for the first time in years... And it wasn't just any human, definitely not for him...

"Do you miss your family?" Tohma's serious question cut into his thoughts.

His mom's fried eggs came back to mind instantly, but Masaru chastised himself to be a bit more considerate. Besides that, the question was a bit too timely for his inner thoughts.

"Well, sure... How are they? Have you seen them lately?"

"Sayuri and Chika are fine. I see your father quite often since we both work in a similar field of research..."

"Oh... yeah."

"He's doing well. In fact, he wanted me to find you..."

"Oh?"

"He meant in a couple more years, though. I don't think he expected me to find you so immediately like this. Anyway... He wants you to come back home."

"......."

His old man was the first person to give him approval to go to the Digital World, so he wasn't expecting to hear that kind of request coming from him right in return. Then again, his dad was just one of the many people who bid him farewell before he left.

What about the others? Did they want him to come back too?

"Of course, it's part of the whole 'bringing the two worlds together' goal we've all been working towards," Tohma elaborated when Masaru didn't say anything for a while. "But for that, you need to come home first... see how the human world has changed... A lot has changed in just these few years. Come to think of it, all of the advances in technology are sure to impress even someone as technology-blind as y-"

"What about you?"

Honestly, Masaru was barely paying attention to Tohma's elaboration.

"...Huh?"

"Do you want me to come back?"

The words slipped out before he could stop himself.

"..........."

They both turned from the fire to stare at each other, trying to read each other's reactions.

Tohma broke away first, changing his gaze to look back at the fire. "It's up to you in the end. It's got nothing to do with me."

Masaru felt something sink inside himself.

The blond stood up not long after, taking his Digivice out of his pocket. "It's getting late, and we should leave early in the morning... I'll go get ready for sleep."

Masaru looked on as Tohma realized some mouthwash out of the Digivice and walked away from the bonfire, and then out of sight beyond the corners to do his business. He was left alone to the sound of the crackling of the fire gently echoing into the heights of the valley.

'W...Was I hoping for a different answer...'


	2. Day 1

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Day 1

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Masaru woke up well before Tohma. At first, it caught him off guard to not wake up to a giant yellow lizard on top of him for once. Instead, there was nothing except for the relatively light weight of the sleeping bag to greet him in the morning.

He got out of the sleeping bag and took a look at Tohma's sleeping face.

Almost three and a half years, huh... That made them both eighteen years old.

It was a benign observation to him... aside from the fact that he was becoming more aware that his age was qualifying him more as an 'adult', if he were back in the human world. Back in the human world...

...Then again, maybe the thought wasn't so benign. He could rattle off about being a man all he wanted, but it didn't change the fact that he hadn't been an 'adult' around all those who easily had that title back in the human would. And there was plenty of that happening back at DATS. All from everyone except Tohma, who was in the same boat as him. They were in the same boat, but...

He watched Tohma's sleeping face for a while longer. The depths of the valley kept the sun from encroaching on their sleep, so the area was still well shaded, but Masaru could still see the other quite clearly. Old memories started to resurface in his mind... Memories of a certain moment that had never left him... but Masaru felt the need to shake them off.

Breakfast first... Tohma did want an early start, after all.

After some stretches, he pushed the button on his Digivice to summon the starting meal for the day.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"Wake up, sleepyhead. Breakfast is ready~"

Masaru hovered over the blond, hoping the smell coming from the dish he was carrying would entice the other to awaken. It seemed to work, as Tohma opened his eyes and blinked a few times.

"Morning..." Tohma got up and put his glasses on. Masaru gave him some space to stretch. "What's for breakfast? It's got a strong smell..."

"Barbeque and grapes!"

The blond raised his eyebrows. "Huh... Barbecue for breakfast..."

"I told you, the Digivice food menu is really random. Just deal with it! At least it's really good. I'm gonna go ahead and start eating."

Tohma stopped moving out of his sleeping bag. "Say..."

"Hm?"

"What's with that... outfit." Tohma's gaze fell towards Masaru's stomach area.

Masaru paused where he was standing. "Oh this... it pops out of the Digivice sometimes for meals. Usually Agumon wears it, but well..." Masaru looked at himself, clad in a large kitchen apron on top of his normal outfit. The apron had a massive pink heart in the center where Tohma was staring. 

"I never thought you were the type to wear that kind of style..." 

Masaru was quick to the blush for that comment. "I'M NOT! I just didn't want to leave it lying around since the Digivice spit it out, all right?! It goes back in the Digivice when we send back the plates and utensils anyway..."

"Right..." Still in the sleeping bag, Tohma turned away and proceeded to do a poor job at holding back his chuckles.

Masaru found himself pouting, but deep down, he felt a good amount of relief as well. At least he could still bring out a smile from Tohma after all this time, even if he had to embarrass himself a bit to do it.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

They set out immediately after breakfast. As they were nearing the end of the valley, the terrain started smoothing out, with the pathway becoming less rocky and the walking path becoming wider overall.

"So what else has the Digivice been doing for you here?" Tohma started. "I heard about some of the additional features from Professor Daimon, but I only know the bare essentials..."

Although Digital Diving had been strictly prohibited for the years, there was one other exception that had been made not long after Masaru had started his journey. His father had done one more upgrade to everyone's Digivices, including Masaru's, by sending an over-the-air update through the Digital World, from the human world.

"Hmm... Oh yeah! This thing even has my bike stored in it."

"Huh?"

Without further ado, Masaru realized the bike from the Digivice. It was the same pink bike with the basket he had in the human world. "I don't normally use it since Agumon's too bulky to ride with me, but you might be okay."

Tohma looked at the bike with quite the confused expression at first, but it soon dissipated. "...Thanks."

Masaru raised his eyebrows at the blond. "What?"

"What... I'm showing my gratitude. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No... hop on. At least we'll get through this boring valley quicker."

And hop on he did, holding onto Masaru's waist as the two rode off.

"Is there a reason why it's pink? ...Not judging."

"It's a hand-me-down from a neighbor. Although... Do you know what a hand-me-down even is?"

"I've read about them... My first time seeing one in practice."

"Of course..."

The ride was sadly a short one, as not long after making it past the valley, the hardened dirt beneath them turned softer. Grasslands came up ahead, and the pair of humans could spot a plethora of Digimon in the distance, in their natural habitats. A pack of Prairiemon plotted across the ground, while several Hawkmon flew in circles in the sky, chasing each other playfully.

"Ah, finally back to an area with more life!" Masaru said, pausing from pedaling the bike and taking a big breath of fresh air under the late morning sun.

Tohma stamped his foot on the changed ground a few times. "The ground here isn't very sturdy for the bike. Let's walk."

"Fine with me."

They started walking through the fields, and immediately the Digimon that had been nearby made way for them, showing signs of nervousness of the unknown pair. It was typical behavior for an area where Masaru hadn't been around in much. As he took a sideways glance at Tohma, walking with his DigiWindow out, he finally asked one of the questions that had been on the back of his mind for a while.

"Hey, so what exactly are you looking for anyway? You keep calling it a 'sample,' but that doesn't explain what it actually is."

"It's... Well, THEY... are a certain lifeform. They're not the same as Digimon, yet you can only find them in the Digital World."

Masaru stretched his arms behind his head with a confused expression. "A lifeform here that isn't a Digimon...? What do they look like?"

Tohma went through a few screens on his DigiWindow and presented the result to the brunet. "Seen them around?"

"...No."

Not in the past three years, at least... If that much time had passed and only now Tohma was here for them, Masaru didn't think he had anything useful to add.

"Thought so, even Digimon rarely come across them. They keep themselves hidden."

"How many are there? Are they like... endangered animals or something?"

"No, they're nothing like endangered animals. It's just... they're always together as a group, as a single entity, so it makes no difference to call them in singular or plural form, and that's just how rare it is..."

"And these guys can cure your sister?"

".....It's within my hopes."

"....." Masaru didn't know what to say regarding the genius relying on 'hope' for a big venture like this, other than that it wasn't very much like him... and also... "I thought you were the one who always had things planned out. 'Hope' isn't a strategy."

Tohma gave him a sideways smile. "Very true. I guess I should rephrase myself... They're within my PLANS that contain my hopes and dreams."

"Uh... okay." Somehow, Masaru got even more confused with Tohma's response in the end, but he wasn't in the mood to question it anymore at that point. As long as they found it eventually, all would be good... eventually.

They walked on for several hours in the peace of the plains, just taking in the view of the green grass and Digimon in the distance. As the Digital World's sun rose closer to its peak in the sky, they could see the start of a forest area in the far, far distance. 

After a lunch break, they walked a few more hours to get closer to the forest area. Idle chat happened here and there, but for the most part, the day felt like a massive nature walk.

"I noticed a lot of the Digimon here are staying clear of us from a distance, but they don't seem to mind that we're here overall. No signs of hostility after all these hours..." Tohma finished typing a log of sorts in his DigiWindow as he multitasked conversation with the brunet. "Masaru, would you say the situation in the Digital World is stable enough to..."

Tohma sensed that something was amiss and turned around to check if the fighter was still there... And he wasn't.

"Masaru?"

"MoooooooooooOooOoo!"

"?!"

Just a few paces away, Tohma found the fighter locked in combat with... A cobalt blue and white moose Digimon, Moosemon.

"Ah..." Tohma gaped.

Masaru had his arms extended on the moose's horns...

"GRAHHH!"

By sheer force, the fighter mustered up all his strength to lift the Moosemon by those horns and throw him backwards in a suplex. The moose shrieked at the impact, sending grass and other such particles flying all around them.

As the dust settled, Masaru rubbed his hands and prepped for the next move... Except the moose showed no signs of getting up.

"Mm, shoot, knocked him unconscious."

"What in the world happened in the few seconds I took my eyes off of you?"

"This guy charged at me going about some nonsense about how we're here to destroy the fields, so I had to show him otherwise."

"By suplexing him."

"Hey, it was self-defense! And it wasn't the first time I've met him. He was like this before, too..."

"So much for my thinking things were peaceful here."

"There'll be ruffians anywhere you go in life. Just gotta punch it out with 'em one at a time to get anywhere with 'em. But too bad for this moose, he's out flat... I wanted to talk it out..."

"Masaru, you..."

Suddenly, Masaru noticed a change in the wind's direction.

"Tohma... we gotta run for the woods."

The fighter's tone of voice went flat and serious. Tohma looked at him with a confused face.

"HippoGryphomon's coming."

"HippoGryphomon?"

"I'll explain later. We gotta run, NOW!"

Shade fell upon both of them.

"Why-"

One word of questioning barely made it out of Tohma's mouth before a giant beast with massive wings appeared between the two humans, with an absolutely livid expression of anger plastered on its eyes. It had dived in from high in the sky like a bullet, leaving the two with just a short second warning of approach.

"Into the forest!"

Masaru grabbed Tohma's arm and dashed for their lives. Tohma caught on by then and also made his run.

The one that Masaru called HippoGryphomon was huge--likely twenty or so times the size of either of them just with its body. With a white lion's body and an eagle's head, talons, and wings, it tumbled across the plains when it missed its target. One fierce growl later, it shredded through the grass field with the full intent of hunting down the two humans. 

Masaru met with the forest and went into the thicket of trees without any hesitation, Tohma trailing close behind. HippoGryphomon's large body struggled against the trees, incidentally providing the two humans a means to gain distance.

The struggle to get away remained intense, however, as HippoGryphomon started tearing through the trees altogether in order to close the gap between them. When Masaru saw an entire tree trunk fly past him, he grit his teeth in a visibly 'o-shit' fashion and ran even faster.

"Tohma!" Masaru grabbed the blond's arm again.

Tohma could only give a bewildered expression as they both turned a quick corner behind one of the larger trees. Barely a moment later, HippoGryphomon rushed past them, continuing a rampage against the obstacles in its frontal view. They went unnoticed.

They weren't safe yet by any means, however. Keeping a low profile, Masaru kept leading Tohma through the bushes, until they reached a small hole hidden in a circle of trees. 

"In here!"

The hole was barely large enough for Tohma to extend his elbows out, and it looked completely dark inside. Definitely not inviting... But as he watched Masaru dive in with arms up and heard him land not long after, he knew to follow suit. HippoGryphomon's roaring in the near distance also pressured him in.

At the bottom of the hole, Masaru felt Tohma press up against him in the darkness, panting to catch his breath. He knew the blond couldn't help it, as everything was pitch black at the bottom, and Tohma had no way of knowing that there was plenty more space down there without seeing it first. Masaru knew he could turn a light on, but... Not yet. Not yet...

They waited until they heard HippoGryphomon give a frustrated wail far in the distance, and another frustrated wailing another minute later that was even farther away. Finally confident that they were safe, Masaru backed up from Tohma and pulled out his Digivice to provide a light. Tohma followed suit.

"Where is this?"

"A Digimon brought me to this place a long time ago. Never thought I'd actually need to use it again though."

Masaru felt around the wall near him for a switch and flipped it up when he found it. An array of tiny lights gradually lit up above them, providing a surprisingly decent amount of lighting to see how much space they had in this underground shelter. It was around three meters wide and deep, just enough for them to lie down, and not much else. The way back up through the hole was manageable with just a fair amount of arm and leg power.

"Thankfully the lights still work. HippoGryphomon won't find us here easily," Masaru said with a sigh of relief. "We'll give the killer bird some time to cool off elsewhere."

"So what's this all about?"

"HippoGryphomon found Agumon and me setting up a campfire around here one time and thought we were here to destroy their home, that's all really. Since this place is pretty far away from where we've explored in the Digital World with DATS, the Digimon here don't have any experience with humans, and they just happen to have that blitz maniac HippoGryphomon with them... "

"I see, the fire is what set them off... Animals that don't come into contact with humans would have more fear of man-made fires. Same with that Moosemon too? We didn't have any fire with us earlier though..."

"I've fought that Moosemon before. I think I did a similar thing back then too... Knocked him unconscious before we could talk it out and all..."

"Of course you did."

"It's been a long time since I've been to this part of the Digital World, so I thought that coming back after some years would give me a chance to settle things with HippoGryphomon. But uhh, nope, still snappy as ever. Agumon and I were trying to get some distance from that bird head before you came along."

"Strange, I thought you hadn't changed at all. Maybe I was wrong."

"Mm?"

"In the past, you probably would've tried fighting no matter what risk there was. Am I wrong?"

Masaru had to smile a bit. "Smarty pants as usual. ...But you're right. In fact I did try it on my own, not long after coming here my first time."

"Eh?"

"The first time, Agumon had already been knocked out, so I tried to follow-up... That was when I had to be rescued by other Digimon, and that's how I found out about this place."

"Ah..." Tohma looked up the hole for a moment before looking back at Masaru, who seemed to be deep in thought (a rare sight). "Well, we might as well rest up here for the day. The sun was starting to set when we were above ground."

"Yeah..."

Masaru, glad to see no objection from Tohma, went back to his thoughts. "......I've changed, huh... Experiences can change people..."

"Masaru?"

"You know how they say kids know no fear?"

Tohma leaned against one of the walls, arms crossed, listening on.

"Well, that was definitely me when I was a little kid," Masaru continued. "One day, I fell off the monkey bars and got hurt real badly. My dad had to carry me while I cried all the way to the hospital, and he was dead worried because it was my head that was bleeding."

"Your head, huh," Tohma responded without as much as moving an inch.

Still, Masaru couldn't help but think there was more behind that stance. "...What's with that look?"

Tohma just smiled, still unmoving.

"Don't believe me? Here look, I've still got the scar." The brunet closed in on Tohma's eyes, lifting his bangs to show off a part of his forehead that was normally hidden.

Tohma visibly backed up his face until his head hit the wall he was leaning on, his cheeks painted with a flush of red. "I... I see..."

Masaru noticed that in coming close to show his forehead, he was staring right into Tohma's lips... He felt his own cheeks heating up. "A-Anyway, you would've thought I'd learn from that. But it had to take something even worse..."

The blond grunted in confusion as Masaru realized his sleeping bag from his Digivice, then took his vest jacket off and set it on the sleeping bag. He started taking his black tank top off next.

"Eh?"

"What, it's pretty stuffy and hot down here anyway," Masaru commented, "And while I'm on the subject of scars..."

He touched his bare chest with one hand as he held his tank top in the other. "This is one scar that really taught me something."

Tohma's eyes opened wider than Masaru had ever seen them before. "That's... Oh god, Masaru..."

Tohma stared hard at Masaru's chest, and for good reason. Across the fighter's entire chest area was a massive scar, shaped almost like a star. The dog tag that Masaru always wore on a necklace around his neck hovered near the center of it.

Masaru tossed Tohma a bitter smile. "It looks a lot like the scar BanchouLeomon had, isn't that pretty cool?"

Tohma just increased the intensity of his stare. "I know you really looked up to him, but that's not how you do it..."

Masaru gave a single laugh.

"In all seriousness, it made me realize how fragile my life really is as a human. HippoGryphomon was so enraged to see the campfire... that bird lashed out at me and Agumon without a moment's hesitation and gave me this. Later, I heard from the Digimon who helped me that folks like Moosemon had never seen humans before and were just protecting their territory. I tried to find Moosemon after I healed, but he wouldn't show up, so Agumon and I just moved on. HippoGryphomon though... that one actually has something against humans specifically."

Tohma's tone remained somber. "I had no idea something like that had happened to you..."

"Now that I think back on it, this is like the ultimate reason for me to be in the Digital World in the first place, right?"

Tohma furrowed his eyebrows, not particularly on board with Masaru's line of thought. But Masaru's next words rang with him...

"Those Digimon just need to come to understand that they don't have to be afraid of us. That I share the same fears they do... That we can overcome those fears as long as we work together. That's what I want to tell HippoGryphomon."

A silence fell between them, but not for long when Tohma spoke up.

"Wow, you're not tying this all with manliness?"

Masaru's eyes practically sparkled, and he pumped a fist in front of him. "Oh, it's manly all right! But actually, that HippoGryphomon's a female."

"Eh? I couldn't tell... And since when do you care about that?"

"W-Well, my fist just wouldn't be as effective if it wasn't hitting an actual guy! I'm not THAT stupid. It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that I need to talk it out with her at some point anyway. I mean, I've already tried my fists against her and that obviously doesn't work. If I can't do it with my fists, I'll find another way."

Tohma kept staring at him.

"What now?" Masaru asked, knowing well that the blond wanted to say something that he wasn't saying.

"Just thinking again that you really have changed."

"..." And he knew that wasn't all the blond was thinking, either. "What about you? Think you've changed?"

"...I wonder. I'm not so sure myself."

Another silence fell between them.

Until Masaru threw a solid punch in Tohma's gut, holding back as necessary to not knock the lights out of him.

"Ah?!" came the small outburst from the genius.

Masaru jeered at him. "Of course you've changed, idiot. The fact that you're here in the first place after all these years means a lot. You must've gone through a whole ton just to get here."

Tohma recomposed himself. "Yes, I did."

"Gotta watch out for a man if you haven't seen him in three years. Famous saying, right?"

"The phrase is 'in three days', not three years, Masaru."

"Ehhhh," Masaru grumbled, then tapped Tohma again with his hand, only this time lightly on the shoulder. "But seriously. My fist tells me you've changed too, for the better. You don't need to tone down your usual self around me, man. I wouldn't be here with you right now if I had issues otherwise..."

"Masaru... Thanks. That means a lot to me."

"Good."

He let his hand rest on Tohma's shoulder just a bit longer before moving on to set up for the night. But Tohma stopped him as he tried to turn around... with a hand to his chest, directly on the scar.

"Ah... sorry. I was just..."

Tohma started to back up, but Masaru grabbed the blond's hand before it was pulled away.

"Curious, right? I would be too. Go ahead."

"....." Tohma proceeded to run his hand across the scar's surface.

After a good three years, the wound that had once torn through much of his frontal torso was no longer vulnerable like it had been for the first months during his initial recovery. The main surface of the scar appeared as a darker tint from the rest of his skin, and it felt different to the touch, too. Especially when another person was touching it... His body had to construct that permanent extra mass in a short time during his healing process, after all... 

Tohma traced his fingers along the edge of the scar where the skin was raised. Masaru had to hold his breath at the sensation.

The small scar on his forehead only came to memory at specific moments like this, but he knew this chest scar would keep him reminded just about every day for the rest of his life... and he was fine with that.

"The thought of what this looked like three years ago certainly hurts to think about..." Tohma said as he pulled back for good. "I'm glad you're still alive and learned the lesson for good. These fights with Digimon aren't just some playground accidents waiting to happen. The scale of danger is just too different."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm the one who's stuck it out here all this time and I'm still in one piece, so have some faith in me now, would ya?"

"Mm... Well, yeah. Things do work out fine for you even without me stressing about it." 

"Yep. Better to just focus on your own goals. Your reason for being here..."

Yeah... He much preferred Tohma being true to himself. Even in that moment before he had left for the Digital World, it was just the timing of it all that made things awkward for him... For now, it seemed like Tohma wasn't going to go into that matter. They were both mutually evading it, but how long could that last...

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

They had a quick meal above the shelter before the sun finished setting, then delegated the rest of the day underground.

Tohma set down his sleeping bag next to Masaru's, as there was no other spot to put it, and the two hunkered down for the night. Tohma had removed his lab coat and tie to get some relief within the stuffy room, settling with just his white shirt, while Masaru hung around with his tank top.

"Sorry to have to crowd you in, but there ain't much sleeping room here, obviously," the brunet noted as he sat down on his sleeping bag.

"Mm..." Tohma seemed to be paying more attention to whatever he was doing on his DigiWindow to notice how close their proximity was in the underground shelter.

"There used to be more space down here, at least back when I was first here. The walls above and at our sides are secure, but the area behind us used to go out a lot farther and wider, like a massive basement... I guess it's collapsed since then, sadly."

In another minute or so, Tohma finished up his business on the DigiWindow and closed it up.

"Say Masaru, how long were you... out of commission when you had that accident? How long were you here?"

"What, you're still thinking about that?" Masaru started undoing the hair tie that kept his ponytail up. "I was down in this shelter for seven days. And it was Drimogemon who saved me, by the way. He made this shelter."

Tohma did a double take.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it? It wasn't the same one of course, not even the reborn one... Or at least I assume it wasn't. But maybe it was, since he was already comfortable with humans like me. He was pretty different, either way. I can still picture him hanging out in that area behind us that's collapsed now..."

Masaru noticed Tohma turn away with a heavy look on his face. 'Really brings back memories...'

He still remembered it clearly after all these years, his first time going to the Digital World. He also still remembered how it brought about the true start of their teamwork, and the start of many other ventures into the Digital World.

He could still see himself charging forward on Drimogemon with a big grin plastered on his face, with Tohma latching on for dear life behind him... With that silly, bewildered face as he started to succumb to Masaru's momentum, just the way he wanted from the start...

"Well, I had some other help too... Anyway, it wasn't the greatest of times being gone for seven days. Agumon couldn't find me until that whole week was up, too. Sort of like this situation, now that I think of it..."

"Sorry again about Agumon..."

"You really don't need to apologize about that anymore. I get to be with you for a week instead, am I right?" Masaru threw the blond a bit of a smile.

Tohma raised his eyebrows. "If that's how you're taking it..."

"Yeah, if HippoGryphomon found you all alone, you know how screwed you'd be?"

"Well..." Tohma looked like he had more to say, but he refrained. "I can't deny the timing of it was rather unfortunate. Better safe than sorry, sure, but it seems we took a bit of a detour to get here."

"Life's just full of detours, man. Anyway... ready to sleep?" Masaru noted Tohma taking off his glasses.

"...Yeah, sure."

Masaru flipped down the light switch, dimming the lights in the shelter to the lowest setting possible. Even at the lowest setting, everything in the area was visible, but it was fine enough to get some shut-eye. Otherwise, no natural lighting showed in the shelter, with it being surrounded by trees that covered up what little illumination there was at night anyway.

Masaru yawned as he lied back down, and Tohma had already closed his eyes. "G'night."

"Good night..."

After a long day of walking, walking, walking, and then having to sprint at the end to save their skins, sleep came to them with ease.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Shifting noises woke him up in the middle of the night. Not just shifting noises, but an extra weight on him too, perhaps... Normally, that wouldn't have woken him up, as he was used to Agumon sleeping on him... but something was different.

Adjusting to the dim lighting, he blinked a few times and saw a familiar set of blond hair below him...

' ...! Tohma?'

Masaru's tank top had crept up his stomach, and Tohma's face was leaning into the scar on his bare chest.

The brunet freaked out for just a moment, trying to lift himself up and out of the way, until he realized Tohma was still slowly breathing and lying still.

Tohma was still asleep. Masaru's first thought was 'How the heck did THIS happen?'

Giving up on trying to get up so that he wouldn't wake up the other, Masaru watched Tohma breathe peacefully on top of him in quite the compromising position. He took a few glances left and right, then realized HE was the one who had invaded Tohma's space for things to end up that way.

So... maybe Masaru's own sleeping habits were to blame.

Becoming Tohma's substitute pillow was still quite the feat; his back was sprawled across both of their pillows at an awkward diagonal. He had somehow managed to creep his entire upper half under Tohma's head amongst the strange shifting he had done...

Bad sleeping habits... Or so Masaru kept telling himself.

He looked down at Tohma again, or more like looked at the top of Tohma's head. He hadn't seen that whorl of blond hair from above in such a long time... And there had only been a few rare occasions for that anyway, such as when he had aided Tohma out of Drimogemon's cave those many years back...

One of his hands reached over and gently touched the blond's hair. When Tohma showed no reaction, he started combing through it idly with his fingers...

"Mm..." came a sound that wasn't from Masaru.

"Ah-"

Masaru started to pull back his hand, assuming Tohma was waking up, but instead found Tohma was reaching over with an arm...

'Whoa whoa there...'

Tohma rested his hand near his face, essentially cuddling up to Masaru's chest scar even further, and continued snoozing off. Masaru could feel the heat rising in his cheeks in the already stuffy underground room.

Masaru started having doubts whether Tohma was actually still asleep or not. Slowly, he moved Tohma's hand off by pushing back the shoulder that had brought it up. 'I... I can't get back to sleep like this.'

He gradually shifted his way around so that Tohma's head wasn't lying completely on his chest anymore, instead settling the blond back closer to his pillow. He didn't even bother lowering his tank top back down, considering how hot it was already...

He could finally see Tohma's sleeping face again, and this time he didn't need to wake up the blond. More than three years had passed since he had last gotten this long of a look at Tohma, and suddenly it was there for him for a whole week. His old DATS comrade finally looked familiar now that he had his glasses off. He really did look weird with them on...

At some point, Tohma's arm reached for Masaru's chest again, but this time the blond at least managed to make it completely back to his own pillow. Masaru let the arm stay this time, since he had managed to position himself back onto his own pillow too for the most part. And he didn't mind...

In fact, it brought up old, pleasant memories of him being glad that Tohma was there with him, and that was all it took to help him drift back to sleep.

And honestly, it wasn't just an old memory. Even now, he...


	3. Day 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Digimon Savers ~Another Mission~ cameo starts around here. Again, it's not important to know anything about the game, but for anyone interested, I did new recordings of the cut-scenes from the JP version of the game, available on my Thoughts page for the game here: https://splash.livejournal.com/369818.html

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

DAY 2

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Adding onto the nostalgia train, Tohma traded in the lab coat for his familiar green vest to go along with his blue tie the next morning. He looked precisely like his previous self of over three years back, except taller and older.

Masaru gave him a confused look. "What happened to your glasses?"

"I finally remembered this morning while checking on my devices that I didn't really need them here. My eyesight isn't that bad in the first place; it's usually just a thing I'd wear out of habit when I need to be reading for a long time, to avoid headaches... But I'm not spending much time reading out here, aside from checking the DigiWindow."

"Hmm, so that's that, huh..."

The brunet found himself staring at Tohma's nape area as he remembered the various mishappenings that occurred overnight. Tohma was too busy pressing buttons on his DigiWindow to notice at first...

What was that all about, anyway? It was like Tohma had some unconscious fixation on his chest scar... True, that look on the genius's face when he first saw the scar had been one he was personally curious to see, but thinking back on it now... Now he couldn't get that look of distress out of his head. And that warm touch...

Some arm stretches later, and Tohma caught on, giving Masaru a few blinks in return. "Masaru?"

Shoot, was he blushing? "I-I'll check if it's okay to head out...!" 

Masaru dashed for the hole entrance, deliberately turning his face away from sight.

He climbed up the grooves on the sides until his upper half surfaced. It was difficult to see past the trees surrounding them, but the sun was just starting to come up.

"All right, the coast is clear! Let's get out of here!"

They both left the shelter, and Tohma had his DigiWindow out once again as they headed out on their way. "So after this detour, I recalculated my estimates... If we clear these woods and grassy areas by foot, and go through the rest by bike... It'll be another three days of travel."

"Wow, isn't that kind of risky? Your ride back home won't be far off by then."

"Well, we'll see if we can get there earlier. Even then, the destination point could move again..."

Masaru blanched at the thought of that happening. "Why the heck does it move around anyway?"

"On a normal basis, it functions like a rotating IP address, so it's more difficult to track down. These creatures like their guise. It took a lot of research just to pinpoint its existence before I came here."

"I...P...? I... P..." Masaru repeated the letters as if they were foreign to him... Which they were, pretty much.

"Internet Protocol," Tohma explained.

"Oh, I thought-"

"Don't tell me."

"Eh? Whaaat, it's not like I was thinking of something all that weird."

"Can't be too sure. You didn't even finish junior high school."

Masaru had to raise his voice at that retort. "There's more to a man's intelligence than how much school he's been through!"

"Oh really now..."

"Yeah, if someone like me can manage being the only human here for three years, shouldn't that say something?"

"I'd say a lot of that is thanks to the Digivice, which your father developed. And he finished HIS schooling."

"You saying my fists haven't done a thing for me here?!"

"I don't doubt that they have, but again I'm saying a CONSIDERABLE amount of your ability to make it this long in the Digital World is thanks to the conveniences produced by the results of the education of someone else's hard work."

"Uu...."

Masaru sighed. This was just like their arguments on the first night of their reunion. He dropped the subject... for now.

The rest of their travel through the thick woods ended in all silence. They stopped near the end of the woods for a lunch break before moving onto another section of plains and grassland.

"When my dad said he wanted me to come back..."

"He did briefly mention you should finish up your schooling, although that certainly wasn't the main emphasis."

"Not that... And you're still on that??" 

"Hmm? What is it then?"

"...Nevermind."

Masaru did a mental sigh. 'I can't keep avoiding this, can I... But... but... why does he have to be such a bastard about it all? Ugh...'

He threw a fist in the air in frustration. "This is why everything's so much better in the Digital World!!"

Tohma couldn't help but smile a bit. "With the technology available here now, that's quite true. Technology within the Digital World could potentially eliminate our biggest problems in the human world. If all it took to produce a good meal in the human world was filling up a pedometer like the Digivice does here in the Digital World, we'd easily eliminate world hunger."

"Hah, you got that right."

"But at the same time... One bad apple in the mix, and things could just as easily result in the destruction of both worlds. We really need to be careful with everything and take it one step at a time. We can't give those bad apples any openings to take advantage of us. The last thing we need is another Belphemon showing up."

"Yeah... But that'll never happen as long as I'm here!" Masaru pumped his fist again, this time holding it to his chest.

"Definitely a lesson well learned," Tohma said in solidarity. "Are you at least thinking about it? Coming back to the human world..."

"Well, when you ask me flat out, of course I'm thinking about it," Masaru admitted somewhat quietly. "I mean, seeing that you're here after these years... Does that mean we're ready to move on to the next stage?"

"The next stage..." As Tohma's words drifted off, Masaru noticed he was giving a rigid stare.

Masaru blinked. What was that stare for, was it something he said? "Err, ultimately, we want to bring peace to both worlds, right? I've been doing a lot more than just fooling around here, I'll have you know. I still have that final goal in mind."

"......Good. Me too. But it's all easier said than done. And frankly, the human world is a lot more complex than out here in the Digital World," Tohma took his stare off to focus back on the trail ahead. "You won't be able to work towards that goal unless you're willing to accept both worlds, Masaru. You can't just stay in the Digital World forever."

"Yeah... Yeah, I know. You don't have to lecture me," Masaru said half-heartedly against Tohma's backside.

He definitely knew, but somehow it was so much more grating on his nerves when Tohma said it.

No... not just grating...

...It outright hurt.

"And you're always right," he murmured, losing the half-hearted attitude and replacing it with a sense of determination.

"Hmm? What'd you say?"

Masaru felt a change in the wind cut in, just at the right time.

"...won't back down this time."

Tohma looked back at him again, covering his face from the gust of wind blowing into his face. He was about to query about Masaru's odd mutterings, but instead widened his eyes at what he saw in the distance behind the brunet.

"HippoGryphomon! She's here again!!" Tohma shouted.

Masaru already knew without looking.

Tohma immediately set to backing away, but Masaru wasn't following. Instead, the fighter did a full 180-degree turn and stood his ground.

HippoGryphomon's silhouette came rushing in, talons reaching forward, directly aimed at him.

"Masaru, what're you doing?!"

In one fell swoop, Masaru pulled off the entire upper half of his wardrobe--tank top and vest jacket--and threw it aside.

"STOP, HIPPOGRYPHOMON!!!"

Masaru's massive shout reverberated directly into HippoGryphomon's face, and the bird head practically squawked in shock as she approached impact. Just moving her head at the speed she was diving was enough to change the trajectory of her landing, and she crashed into the ground just a short breath away from Masaru's side.

After a rolling tumble, she quickly picked her bearings back up and faced the fighter on high alert. She was about to lunge when Masaru shouted again, spreading his arms wide out to his sides.

"YOU GOT ME ONCE ALREADY, SO SETTLE DOWN, WOULD YA??"

HippoGryphomon froze to attention, and her head lowered to meet eye-to-eye with Masaru and his star-shaped chest scar completely out in the open.

"We're not trying to threaten your territory or anything. There shouldn't be any reason for you to be so aggressive towards us." Masaru lowered his volume but kept the dead-on seriousness in his tone.

HIppoGryphomon's glare remained unfettered, and she looked like she was to pounce again.

"Don't you get it?! We don't want to hurt you."

Masaru stood tall, keeping his back straight and his arms stretched out, completely exposing his scarred chest. Tohma, who was almost a good dozen meters away in the open field, stayed as still as he could, watching the tense scene unfold.

HippoGryphomon emitted a low growl through her beak. Then she finally lifted her stance, standing tall above the two humans even while being on four legs. Her long, bushy tail swished from side to side gallantly, and her overall posture showed that she had lost interest in attacking for the moment.

"Then why do you dwell here?" came a deep voice.

Masaru jerked slightly in reaction. 'She spoke...'

"Dwell here...?" he repeated.

"Why do you roam the lands here, and not the world you came from? This is not your world."

The first thing that came to Masaru's mind was Tohma's previous comment of 'You can't just stay in the Digital World forever.'

Why... Why did that have to ring in his head...? And his heart, so much...

"Well, it's not yours either," Masaru said with an edge of defiance.

HippoGryphomon went back to growling.

"Oi, Masaru, don't egg her on at THIS point!"

"Eheh..." Masaru had the confidence to throw Tohma a sideways smile before turning back to HippoGryphomon.

"Hey, HippoGryphomon. I'm here because my best buddies, the Digimon, are here."

"I see no such Digimon you speak of. Only you two humans."

"Well, Agumon's kind of AWOL right now... But that's beside the point. You're a Digimon too, aren't you?"

HippoGryphomon didn't respond, but instead gave a head tilt indicating 'what of it?'

"Then that makes you a buddy too."

It was simple logic, and it was Masaru's logic. HippoGryphomon seemed unsure of what to even make of it.

"You'll say that even for the one who gave you that bodily scar?"

"I don't have any grudges against you for that. I got what I earned in a fair fight, that's all."

"A fair fight..." HippoGryphomon repeated, uncertainty still in her tone. In any other person's perspective, there was nothing fair between the size of such a giant Digimon versus a small human, and HippoGryphomon was likely thinking the same.

"Yup, and I'm still good as always, so let bygones be bygones. Sleep it off, eat the next day and we're good to go. Say, are you hungry? What's your favorite food?" the brunet continued, "I might be able to get you some from my Digivice."

"Digi...vice?"

"If it's not something from the menu today, it'll have to be left up to total random chance though..."

Tohma kept his distance still, watching Masaru at last work his magic on the very Digimon who threatened his life just moments ago.

'Those Digimon just need to come to understand that they don't have to be afraid of us. That I share the same fears they do... That we can overcome those fears as long as we work together. That's what I want to tell HippoGryphomon.'

"The bread that comes out of the vending machines is not so bad..." HippoGryphomon recalled.

As Masaru realized a donut from his Digivice, much to HippoGryphomon's fascination, Tohma gradually moved in, though not directly near them at first. He went... to pick up Masaru's clothes that had been thrown just earlier.

Masaru noticed as Tohma approached with the clothes, just as he handed over a colorful, sprinkle-covered donut to HippoGryphomon. "Oh, thanks, Tohma."

HippoGryphomon sniffed the donut cautiously at first, then gently used her beak to take it. Tilting her head back, she swallowed it in one gulp.

"Hey, you won't even be able to taste it if you swallow it whole! What the heck!" Masaru shook his head and realized another one. "Make sure you at least chew it this time..."

"Masaru, birds don't 'chew' their food..."

HippoGryphomon took the next donut and swallowed it up whole as well. "It has a strange... squish to it. I suppose it's not bad."

"Is that your way of saying you like it?" Masaru said with a hint of a smug attitude.

"Mm. Aside that... you humans are sturdier than I thought. Most Digimon would have turned back into DigiEggs after taking on my attack."

"Humans don't have the luxury of just turning back into DigiEggs," Masaru said, instantly switching back to a more serious tone. He noticed the large beast Digimon was looking at his scar again, and he went to finally take his clothes back from Tohma. "We gotta make do with the one life we get."

"Alas. So what are your names, humans? You know mine already..."

"Masaru, and this guy here is Tohma."

"If you will not be returning to your world, where are you two going instead?"

In the middle of putting his tank top back on, Masaru felt something shake inside him again at HippoGryphomon's question. Something about the way she phrased it...

"We're heading to this valley, if you're familiar with it," Tohma said as he brought the DigiWindow over to her.

"Valley? All I see is a bunch of lines..."

Tohma made an audible sigh and proceeded to give an explanation quite vaguely familiar to something Masaru heard just yesterday.

"Ahh, this valley. You'd get there much faster if you flew. I could reach it within a few hours."

"We may have a lot of technology on us here, but the technology to fly isn't one of them, sadly," Tohma said with some remorse.

"It's too bad we don't have great big, nice wings like you do, HippoGryphomon," Masaru said with some cheer back in his voice.

"You may borrow my wings if you would like."

"Eh?"

The beast Digimon suddenly spread open her wings, sending grass flying all around them. "Both of you would easily fit on my back with your small sizes. I would appreciate going that way anyway, since a meat fountain is on the way."

"Meat... fountain," Tohma repeated with some confusion.

"You'll know when you see it," Masaru reassured him. "No point in hanging around here when we can get flying then! Let's go!"

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

HippoGryphomon flew at tremendous speeds, which made the flight a bit turbulent for the two humans. Fortunately, the beast even allowed them to set up a harness of sorts. As makeshift as it was, at least it was enough for them to maintain a steady grip for the hours-long ride. Her back was almost twice as large as Tohma's memories of Gaogamon's back... all the more space for the both of them to latch on. They definitely needed it, as HippoGryphomon's flying speed was multifolds faster than Gaogamon's running anyway.

At around the halfway point, HippoGryphomon landed in the middle of a forest area where a clearing with a fountain was located. A large crowd of other Digimon were already gathered around the fountain, however nothing was happening at the fountain itself. It was just an ordinary, empty, and still water fountain.

Or so it was for only a brief moment. Not long after the trio arrived, they heard the sounds of a machine churning underneath them. As soon as Masaru and Tohma got off HippoGryphomon to stretch their legs, the ground started shaking, and all the Digimon started chatting in excitement.

"Good... we are just on time."

The fountain had a large spout up at the top, and the rumbling echoed from it. When the rumbling stopped, a stream of... something amber-brown came straight up from the spout.

They were giant portions of meat on the bone, popping out of the fountain one after another. The largest of the surrounding Digimon immediately jumped at the meat in a frenzy; most of the meat wouldn't even reach peak height before one of the Digimon had snatched it away. A few airborne Digimon made their way to snipe off pieces after the first few seconds.

HippoGryphomon stayed out of the starting frenzy, letting the biggest and hungriest of the pack have their way first. With folks like Tyrannomon and even Deltamon in the pack, many of the smaller Digimon didn't have the courage to go for first dibs. Deltamon by itself, with its three massive mouths to feed, was swallowing up a large number of the meat bones whole.

"It really is a meat fountain," Tohma said simply as he watched the messy scene in front of him. "Now that I think of it, I did wonder how some Digimon maintain their nourishment... it's not as if they hunt each other like regular animals, since Digimon just turn back into DigiEggs as soon as they've sustained a lethal amount of damage."

He fiddled with his DigiWindow as the meat feast continued. "I see, that only makes sense... the energy reserved from DigiEgg reverts is fueled into this fountain, which produces the meat... So in an indirect way, it's like Digimon are still eating each other in this kind of ecosystem."

"Huh," Masaru gave him a funny look. "That's such a morbid way to look at it."

"It's just an observation..." 

The larger Digimon backed up after having their fill, letting the rest of the Digimon dive into the meat festival. HippoGryphomon joined in at that point.

Tohma watched a Garurumon and Parrotmon fight over one of the meat pieces in the distance, as they tugged on opposite ends of the meat flesh with their mouth/beak. "There's plenty more coming out of the fountain, no need to waste time fighting over one piece... It's like watching you and Agumon fight over Sayuri's fried eggs."

Masaru chuckled without opening his own mouth. Again, with the fried eggs...

HippoGryphomon returned with a beak full of meat, and on her front claws as well. She dug in with Masaru and Tohma watching.

"Do you not want any?" she asked.

"I'm good," Masaru declined, "If I eat here, I think I'll get motion sickness when we ride again..."

"True enough," Tohma agreed.

"Mm." She continued pecking away at the meat. "I have heard tales from my fellow Digimon... about how the emotions of you humans affect us."

Tohma turned his head in attention to the statement. "What about it?"

"I still have doubts about you humans... You, Tohma... And Masaru... I see that the two of you do not mean harm, but how can I be so sure that any other human is the same?"

"You can't, unfortunately..." Tohma answered. "We're all different. But we also have the ability to change, for the better... that's evolution."

"That still does not change the fact that your emotions affect us, however..."

"An undeniable reality. But it's not a reality we have no control over. It CAN be managed."

"Managed, you say..."

Masaru blinked at the two of them. "You guys are so weird together..."

Tohma chuckled a bit. "Suffice to say, this is likely one of the only times I've had a philosophical discussion with a true Digimon. The other time was with Gaomon..."

"A true Digimon? Who wasn't a true Digimon?"

Tohma's expression flickered into a frown. "The BioHybrids... It's not a subject I'd want to linger on..." He quickly changed gears. "HippoGryphomon, have you seen this before?"

He threw his left hand out and snapped his fingers. A blue light gathered on his hand, flowing like a fire and emitting a strange sound that could only be described as 'digital'.

HippoGryphomon's eyes widened at the sight of it. "What is this?"

"Digisoul. There's still much we don't know about this phenomenon, but Masaru's father and I believe the key to bringing our worlds together lies in this. The most tangible use we've seen from it is for Digimon evolution, but time and time again, we've seen it used in other ways, including saving both of our worlds from the brink of destruction."

Masaru stared into the nostalgic Digisoul, entranced by its presence. HippoGryphomon stretched her wings as she finished her last piece of meat, also staring at the Digisoul.

"Pockets of a similar substance appear randomly in our world. We too consider them to be a source of evolution. It is how many of us came to be in the form we are today, myself included. Tohma, are you saying that humans are the original source for this?"

"Yes."

"Huh, I never knew that about you Digimon. No wonder some of you are so permanently huge," Masaru commented.

Tohma sighed. "It never mattered to you whether you were up against a Child level or Ultimate, as long as you could fight them man-to-man."

"You got that right!"

"The appearance of these... Digisoul pockets has significantly dwindled in recent years..." HippoGryphomon observed.

"That's likely the effect of having closed the gates between our worlds," Tohma noted, "I wonder what impact it's had on the Digimon population overall."

"Evolution still occurs naturally through time and training," HippoGryphomon answered. "It may take longer overall, but it still occurs. I see now... those pockets are a result of human intervention, then..."

"None of those are done intentionally, I'm sure... like I mentioned, there's still a lot we don't know about Digisoul."

"I am not fully convinced about you humans yet, just so we are clear on that..." HippoGryphomon said with a slight growl. "But you two are fine for now. As long as your intentions are clear and harmless, I will aid you with what I can so that you can move on."

"We really appreciate it," Tohma gave a respectful nod in the large Digimon's direction.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Both of them gave HippoGryphomon a long wave as she flew off after dropping them off at the valley destination. The sun was starting to set, but there was still a fair amount of time to explore the area. The walls in the new valley were spotted with cool silver metal, compared to the other one which had only golden desert colors of dirt.

"You really did it. You made peace with her," Tohma said as he opened his DigiWindow once again.

Masaru didn't miss the tone of awe in that voice. "See? I get things done when I put my mind to it."

"All that's left is to reach the coordinates for the sample. We're almost there. You really are something, Masaru..."

Masaru rubbed the bottom of his nose with a finger, accepting the familiar compliment. 

"Although... You had me really worried when you jumped out in front of me back there."

"Eh?"

"I'm having second thoughts on whether you've actually changed or not. Your outlook on some things has matured, but you're still doing reckless things. Fundamentally, you're still the same..."

"Hah? What do you mean?" 

"Even if you're not going around punching anything that threatens you, you're still just constantly jumping out there with your life on the line."

"Life's always about putting it on the line. That's what it takes to be a man."

"But the line you tread on is the thinnest I've seen. And......." he trailed off. "Forget it."

There it was again, the sinking feeling in his gut. He was getting really tired of it... One moment, the genius was complimenting him, the next, he was accusing him just for being himself...

"Geez, fine. Just go fetch what you came here for and get going already. I'd rather see Agumon back as soon as possible instead of your gloomy face."

He almost regretted it as soon as he said it. The fighter bit his bottom lip as he noticed Tohma practically wince through that gloomy face.

But Tohma quickly shut his eyes and shook his head, attempting to shake the gloom off. "Regardless, you won't be able to see Agumon for a few more days. But... you don't have to stick with me until the week's over, if you can remember to come find me again in time so you can reunite with him."

Masaru paused for a bit, just then realizing the thought about leaving Tohma alone in the Digital World hadn't even come across his mind. Of course, that would've meant that Masaru himself would be alone, without Agumon.

"No, I'll stay with you. Even though HippoGryphomon is cool with me now, there could be more like her out there, and it's really dangerous for a human to be alone in that situation," Masaru said, speaking from personal experience. "How were you planning to survive a whole week here if I hadn't shown up anyway?"

"Funny you should mention that at such timing; he's about to show up any moment now."

"Huh?"

"Yes, Master."

"Gaomon?!"

From the other direction, the blue dog-like Digimon came in, carrying a familiar communicator device in his glove. It was the DATS communicator... Apparently, Tohma had given his Digimon a communicator, and he still had it all these years later.

"Good to see you, Gaomon," the blond said with a smile. Gaomon returned in kind, nodding silently as they continued on.

Masaru hadn't seen Gaomon since they separated after first arriving back in the Digital World. The tamer Digimon had split into groups, with Gaomon going with Lalamon and Falcomon to cover Mercurimon's territory. The other Digimon, including Kudamon, Piyomon, PawnChessmon, and the other Digimon from DATS, had gone to yet a different area. He'd met up with some of those Digimon for other reasons in the past, but those had their specific reasons. Otherwise, he hadn't gone back to Mercurimon's territory at all since he had explored it to his own satisfaction already.

"I only managed to reach him on the communicator after our encounter with HippoGryphomon yesterday. He was on his way over, but then HippoGryphomon offered us the ride... so I told him to come here next. He was coming from the complete opposite direction however, so it was going to take some time for us to meet up regardless," Tohma explained.

"Yeesh, so what if HippoGryphomon hadn't taken us here? Gaomon was just going to pass this area and then meet us partway, then head back here again?"

"Precisely. Right, Gaomon?"

"Yes, Master."

"You guys are weird..."

"Can't admit he's reliable, is that it?"

"Che."

Of course it was natural for Tohma to stick up to his partner Digimon, but all of a sudden, the balance of the atmosphere between the two seemed to be working poorly for Masaru. He wanted his partner back too.

But then he'd look at Tohma and Gaomon next to each other, and remembered Tohma's face as he mentioned not having Gaomon there for over three years...

'C'mon, Masaru. You're better than this.'

He kept his mouth to himself.

"Hmm... this is supposed to be the spot right up here..."

Tohma turned around multiple times, checking his navigation with the DigiWindow every few steps. In the end, he circled back and made a strained face.

"So what's wrong?" Masaru asked.

Tohma breathed out one of the largest sighs Masaru had ever heard. "Well, this is another reason I planned for the trip to take a whole week. Even if I get to the sample's location, there isn't a guarantee I'll actually find it there on that day."

"Huh??"

"Something else is possibly preventing it from showing up, even though it's static here on my DigiWindow scanner."

"What's stopping it from showing up? Can it go invisible?"

"Essentially, yes... it set itself to hidden, unless I can figure out what triggers it to become visible..."

"So... what can you do?"

"Well, going through its properties..." Tohma's hands were all over his DigiWindow, moving windows left and right with his finger in search of something. "Yes... It set its IP to static for now... so it's not going anywhere. I'll just have to keep checking in here every day, hoping it'll show up."

Masaru tried to comprehend what Tohma was trying to do on his DigiWindow, but he gave up quickly. "That seems so... basic. Not like you to rely on that kind of outcome..."

"Unfortunately, this is really the most that can be done for this situation. Unless I can figure out why it won't show up otherwise. I only have a vague theory for it at the moment..." Tohma sighed yet again.

Masaru had to sigh too. It wasn't hard to understand how Tohma must've felt coming all this way, only to still be obstructed from his goal by something seemingly out of his control. His heart felt heavy again, but this time it was a much simpler feeling, something he knew his way around quite well.

"Hey, sorry I said that stuff about wanting to see Agumon more than you. I didn't mean it that way." At times like this, a cheer of any kind would go a long way. "I meant more that you should keep your head up high. Be-"

"Be a man?" Tohma cut him off, easily finishing his statement.

"Yeah, be a man. Be confident. You know that already."

To Masaru's relief, Tohma gave him a smile. 

"I sure do," the blond said as he finally closed his DigiWindow. 

"In fact, I'm going to swear on my manliness right now... I won't bring up missing Agumon to you again until it's time for him to come back."

"Masaru, I don't have any problems with you missing your partner-"

Masaru cut him off. "You said it yourself that he's in good hands with your butler for the week, right? There's no point in me worrying about him then. I trust you."

Tohma paused a bit, then lifted his eyebrows with a slight shrug. "If that's what you want to do, it's fine with me."

"Yeah, this is just something I want to do... for myself."

Yes... He was berating himself in his mind for the times he kept bringing up whatever wasn't there with him. He wanted everything all in place, the same place, if he really had things go his way, but life wasn't so simple to let him do that...

He knew he had to be extra forceful to stop certain feelings of abandonment on his personal seesaw, even though he clearly knew the parties on the other side had no intention of leaving him behind.

Well... Most of the parties. 

Masaru knew without a doubt that Tohma was still a trustworthy ally any day, no matter how much time passed, but beyond that...

.......

No, he needed to get out of whatever mindset he was driving himself into. All that mattered right now was that Tohma still had a good number of days left in the Digital World... And there was a chance to make something of it.

"Well, I guess I appreciate the effort?" Tohma said with a bit of confusion. "Besides that... since there's nothing here for now, how about some lunch? It'll give me some time to think about what I can try next."

"Sure thing," Masaru agreed. Although they had just been at the meat fountain a couple hours ago, they hadn't actually eaten anything there, after all. "Hey... I could take you to some fun spots around here since we have all this time for the rest of the week."

Fun spots around this valley, indeed... If he had to be with Tohma for another half week, staying in this area... He knew where this was leading up to.

"I'm sure Gaomon's familiar too, but since he's so quiet about everything, I'll take the lead on where to go," Masaru stated.

Gaomon just sweatdropped behind Tohma and didn't say anything, as expected. Tohma, however, had his interest piqued. "Oh? That does sound nice. It's entirely likely that stressing over this won't help the situation at all, so I might as well enjoy my time here while I can."

"You only live once, so take the opportunity to make the best of your trip here, right?"

Tohma nodded slowly, with a smile.

Whether it was a true smile of anticipation or a forced one masking the despair of his current situation, Masaru wasn't so sure of. But if he could do something to make sure it was a smile of anticipation, he was willing to take his chances.

Masaru scratched his cheek a bit with his index finger. "Actually, there's a specific area around here that Agumon and I haven't been to in a long while. We keep meaning to, but something else always comes up and we end up skipping out. But now that we have you and Gaomon around, now's a good time as ever. And then I can take Agumon there again when he's back."

"Hmm, what kind of place is this?" Tohma asked.

"You'll see..."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

After about another ten minute walk through the valley, Masaru spotted a marker on the walls and started tracing his hand along it.

"It should be around here somewhere..."

Tohma looked at the brunet curiously as he kept touching the wall. "Looks like nothing but cliff walls as far as the eye can see... What're you looking for?"

Masaru grinned in spite of himself. No turning back now... "For this. Follow me."

He slipped straight through the wall and disappeared.

"It's... a fake wall? A hologram?"

"Let's go, Master."

The two followed Masaru's lead and went through the wall in the same area. In the next instant, they found themselves on a paved street. The view panned with a plethora of tall buildings up in the near distance.

It was like they had just stepped into one of the busier shopping streets of Akihabara... By going inside a cliff. And instead of humans being out and about, it was all Digimon. Digimon were selling things at their stalls, other Digimon were checking out the goods, and others were simply chatting with each other in the middle of the road. As far as the eye could see, it was like they had stepped into a different reality altogether.

"There's an entire city inside the cliffs..." Tohma was completely taken aback, his view wandering everywhere to take in all the new sights.

Masaru had to smile at Tohma's reaction. "There are a bunch of entrances, but this is the one I know of that was nearby..."

Gaomon spoke up, pointing up at the sunset red skies patterned with the familiar computer chip silhouettes. "The sky you see here is a hologram as well, reflecting the same as what's above the valley. In actuality, it's the top of the valley wrapping around this entire city. There are a few entrances from up there too."

"Oh, so you HAVE been here, Gaomon. I was wondering..." Masaru commented.

An Airdramon came out of 'nowhere' in the sky as they looked up at it, indicating one of the sky entrances that Gaomon had mentioned.

"This was all hidden away," Tohma said, by now shaking his head to get over his initial shock. "I always assumed most everything in the Digital World was undeveloped or near primitive. Even places that were infused with hoards of human objects didn't reach this level of societal utility. Nothing like this..."

"Do you remember the buildings from the valley where we fought MetalPhantomon? These are those buildings, all reformatted and remodeled," Gaomon said with a bit of a tail wag. He must've been remembering his victory as MachGaogamon from way back then.

"Amazing..." Tohma continued staring in awe at the surroundings, observing the large, bright signs written with DigiCode, the Digital World's language, plastered at the top of the buildings.

"It was Masaru's idea to have this area set up."

"Come again?" Tohma did a double take, responding to a voice he hadn't heard since coming to this world.

A Renamon approached them, followed by a Piyomon who waved at them. Piyomon was the one who had just spoken, and soon Tohma remembered him as Daimon Chika's Piyomon.

"It's not much yet, but things are gradually getting more lively around here," the Renamon said in his semi-deep voice, "Welcome back to Digicon Valley, Masaru."

"Renamon, Piyomon! Good to see you," Masaru said with a wave back.

"You..." Tohma's voice trailed off until he remembered. "You're... Yuma's Renamon."

Renamon did a small head nod in Tohma's direction.

"Renamon's what you could call the mayor here," Masaru said as a reintroduction.

"Although I'm not sure if I'm doing what a mayor does in the human world," Renamon said modestly.

"Oh, you're fine." Masaru gave the tall, yellow fox a pat on the back (more like the fluff on his back).

"Piyomon has really been helping out as a Treasurer," Renamon alluded attention away from himself as he swung an arm in Piyomon's direction.

Piyomon smiled back through his beak. "If you remember all the friends I brought to the human world many years back, they're all here helping run the city too. They've all evolved to their Child forms like me, so you probably won't recognize them though."

Inside the closest building next to them, they could spot a few Andromon and Nanomon in a tech lab-like area, unbefitting the rest of the shopping area that proceeded ahead of them. Renamon noticed Tohma staring in their direction.

"The Nanomon provide much of the engineering assistance here," Renamon explained. "They reformatted the buildings to transport them into the valley so that they aren't sideways anymore, and apparently had a hand in changing their appearance overall to suit their aesthetics."

"So Digimon... live and work here?" Tohma asked as he saw the Andromon and Nanomon leaving the room they were in, likely finishing up for the day.

Piyomon chimed in. "Yes, everyone who helps keep this city running lives here. Just recently, we've started providing hotel services to our visitors as well!"

"I do hope you can stay with us for a while and see how things are progressing," Renamon looked towards Masaru for a response.

"That's the plan if it's okay with Tohma," Masaru looked over at Tohma in turn.

"As long as we can go early in the mornings to check back into the designated area..."

"You would be free to come and go as you like, of course," Renamon said. "Masaru and his allies are welcome here anytime. It's the least we can do to show our gratitude."

"I didn't really do much though..."

"No need to be modest!" Piyomon butted in, flapping his wings emphatically. "If not for you, these buildings would still be under the rule of those miserable Dokugamon. It's only because of you and Agumon that they were willing to let these buildings get put to more practical use."

Tohma gave the brunet an eyebrow lift. "Man-to-man 'talk', I presume?"

"But of course."

The blond crossed his arms and took a step back, a slightly smug smile on his face. "Never a doubt. As interested as I am about this whole city, I think it'd be best to turn in early for the day. I have to admit the ride with HippoGryphomon took a lot out of me."

If Masaru had to be the one to admit it, his whole body--especially his arms--still felt a sort of numbness from holding onto the reins on HippoGryphomon for so long. Tohma had to be in a similar state.

"Yeah, I'm ready to check into whatever hotel you have ready... After dinner!"

"Oh right, food..." It seemed Tohma was so awestruck that he had forgotten about his empty stomach.

Renamon went off to attend to other business, while Piyomon guided the weary travelers to a nearby food stall, where an Antiramon, Lopmon, and Terriermon were serving up what looked like steamed dumplings. Antiramon handled the cooking, while Lopmon and Terriermon constantly had their massive ears busy with handling transactions and serving up bowls of dumplings to their guests.

A quick meal later, they headed off to one of the fancier looking buildings near the dumpling stall with a large 'hotel' sign in DigiCode. Despite the fancier exterior, all appearances within the hotel stayed on the humbler side of design and convenience.

A Parasaurmon and Tobucatmon awaited them at the reception desk, with Tobucatmon tapping away at the hotel computer. The both of them recognized Masaru right away and grinned in delight to see him. Piyomon walked over ahead of the others to chat them up while the others sat around the lobby to finally rest their feet.

"Master," Gaomon gave Tohma a signal of some sort. 

Tohma nodded, then brought his Digivice out. Gaomon went inside the Digivice. "Good night, Gaomon."

Masaru gave it a curious stare, to which Tohma responded, "Gaomon did always have a liking for the bed in the Digivice."

Masaru couldn't help but think the dog was intentionally trying to give them some private space...

When Piyomon came back over, he looked a little meek. "Uhh, I know I mentioned we just started providing hotel services, but unfortunately the only room left for the next few days is the smallest single suite... I do hope you'll still use it! Please!" He clapped his wings together and bowed his head as an apology.

"Hey, no worries! Giving us a room at all is already a luxury, am I right?"

Tohma nodded in kind. "I was assuming I'd have to camp out my whole week here. Never expected service like this."

Piyomon's eyes practically glittered. "We'll make sure it's nice and clean for you every day!"

"Haha, you guys even do room service, huh."

"Mm!" Piyomon chirped happily. "Now c'mon, this way!"

They followed Piyomon up to the top 15th floor by elevator, to the farthest corner of the building from where they entered. A floor neighbor Gazimon peeked his head out from around the corner as Masaru opened the door to their room, but the Digimon disappeared quickly to mind his own business soon after.

"Well, everything should be in good order, so I'll take my leave here, but go ahead and let Tobucatmon know if you need anything! He even just falls asleep in front of his computer, right on top of the keyboard..." Piyomon headed off with a great, big smile on his face, and Masaru couldn't help but smile back.

...Although that smile gradually faded away into inner concern as he looked inside the room.

Of course there was only one bed... And it was barely big enough for the two of them.

The room overall was rather... cozy, like a good ol' budget Japanese hotel, with just enough space next to the bed to get some basic stretches done, a bathroom/shower next to a closet, a small hallway near the entrance... and that was about it.

Tohma had gone ahead to clean himself up in the bathroom as soon as they got in, even before Masaru could say anything to him. Even so, what did he even want to say...

While Tohma was showering, Masaru opened up the curtains in the room. It was already completely dark out; in just the fifteen or so minutes since they had stepped into the hotel, the sun had finished setting from the valley above them. Although the skies were dark, the view outside was anything but.

The 15th floor view was amazing, to say the least. Many of the brightly colored Digicon Valley signs were lit up, some flashing and blinking to catch extra attention, and plenty of Digimon were still visible below enjoying the night life the city had to offer.

To think that the Digital World would ever have a place like this flabbergasted him. But even the shopping districts of Yokohama weren't this lit up at night, except during holidays... if anything, he'd compare it closer to bigger cities like Shibuya or Akihabara.

Yokohama... Shibuya... Akihabara...

The human world...

"The human world has certainly changed, but there's a lot happening here as well," came Tohma's first comment as he came out of the bathroom, clothed with his button up shirt, pant slacks, and a towel around his shoulders. He sat down on the opposite end of Masaru near the windowsill, taking the view in for himself. "Daimon Suguru was the Messiah of ElDoradimon... Would you say you're the Messiah of this new city?"

"Messiah..." Masaru repeated the word, briefly remembering both the good and sorrow of his time with ElDoradimon. "I didn't intend for this place to end up looking so much like it does now... I was only trying to make a safe place for these guys to hang out. They've done all this extra stuff on their own."

"Yet they still give you this VIP treatment, even if this is the last room they have. The impact you've made is that important to them."

"My dad was the one who made water appear out of a dry desert and actually saved the lives of an entire capital in danger. All I did was duke it out with a bunch of miser spiders so that we could use the buildings..."

"You're really not giving yourself enough credit for this, Masaru. If it hadn't been for your experiences in the human world, I'm sure none of this would have happened. Your father would be all over this place for his research if he were here. He'd want details of how every little thing here came about. I'm already imagining him interviewing every single resident AND visitor for their story."

"Heh, I guess so. To be honest, Lalamon probably put in the most ideas for this place. She started visiting right after it was built. I've only seen her here a few times, but every time, Piyomon would blab to me about the new things they were putting in the city from her ideas."

"Hmm, and yet you never saw Gaomon?"

"Like I said, I don't stop by here that often... and this place has gotten big enough that it's easy enough to not ever see most anyone specifically when you're just doing a casual visit. You'll get a better idea of what I mean when we take a deeper tour tomorrow."

"Mm..." Suddenly, Tohma sneezed. "It's certainly much chillier compared to the night before."

"Well, you didn't completely dry your hair, of course it's gonna feel cold out here... It's not a stuffy underground shelter."

Tohma's hair had mostly dried from using the hairdryer shortly just earlier, but it was still damp enough to flatten down the occasional curl his hair normally had. As the blond stared out the window, Masaru found himself staring too... Staring at the blond's nape area again... Bare and exposed, since Tohma didn't finish buttoning up the shirt...

"...My turn to shower," the brunet said as he walked off as soon as he could.

He scrubbed his hair more vigorously than usual while washing in the shower. A vain attempt to physically clear his head out of certain thoughts.

Tohma was just trying to have a normal conversation with him just earlier, and here Masaru's mind was wandering towards other things.. like the small bed they'd be sharing later that night. The warm-looking blanket they'd be sharing later... They'd slept together in close quarters plenty of times before, so why was he so nervous now? And not only was his mind on the bed, it was also still thinking of the night before, when Tohma was kind of all over him, even though it was his own fault...

His own fault...

He kept trying to empty his mind as he finished his prep for sleep, drying his hair completely and everything. But when the time came to get under the blanket, Masaru awkwardly shuffled over to one end of the bed (farthest from the window where Tohma was) and shut his eyes instantly.

Tohma lifted the blanket in a more natural fashion to get on the bed. He paused as he looked over at the other occupant, who was on his side, facing away, and sighed.

"Masaru, take it easy. It's not like I'm going to attack you in your sleep..."

"Hmm? I'm taking things just fine... G'night."

"Good night..."

Tohma settled in next to the brunet and hit the switch near the bed, turning off the room light. Masaru instantly noticed the extra warmth near his back and tried his best to not think of it as anything...

So much easier said than done.

It wasn't Tohma he was worried about 'attacking' the other, it was himself.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

There were stirrings of him having it in for the blond genius even before Piyomon's arrival in the human world.

His first revelation was on their way home from a DATS mission.

Back then, they would often get sent out on missions that required long commutes. That night, for example, was to deal with 'Nessie' sightings at Lake Hinuma, which was a good two and a half hour drive from their base in Yokohama. 'Nessie' turned out to be a Seadramon, and with camping season around the lake at high peak, there were also plenty of people who had witnessed it. Chasing those people down and erasing their memories of the incident had taken up a good portion of their long night. Not to mention dealing with Seadramon itself, barricading in the depths of the water...

It was just one out of the many in the recent string of missions that called for so much overtime. Masaru had no issues with it personally, as it wasn't like he had anything better to do with his time after school, and Yoshino was generally always comfortable with overtime considering the pay she got out of it. Tohma, on the other hand...

Masaru would usually make bets with Tohma, with the front passenger seat in the DATS vehicle as the winning prize... their records were split almost evenly in half (by some strange luck on Masaru's part). On the trip over, Tohma once again had the rights to the front seat, so Masaru only assumed Tohma would take it on the way back too... At least that was usually how the bet worked. So on their return trip, it surprised him when Tohma got into the back seat with him instead of taking the front next to Yoshino. Masaru was about to poke him, but... the blond was out like a light, instantly asleep after clicking his seatbelt.

Yoshino took a glance behind her after she buckled up, noticing the empty passenger seat next to her. Masaru suggested that he take the front seat instead; Yoshino just shrugged. Masaru did the courtesy of taking the front seat.

"Yeesh, I've never seen anyone fall asleep so fast," Masaru said as they started their long drive back.

"You used to go out of your way to bug him back awake when we were first starting out, but now you're finally leaving him alone and even offering to keep me company," Yoshino said in observation, "Sure goes to show you guys are actually growing up for once." 

"Mm..." 

Yoshino turned on her car music, loud enough to just be able to hear it without disturbing the sleeping teen in the backseat.

True, Masaru used to try finding ways to keep Tohma awake on their rides back, staying in the backseat with him and bothering him in various ways. Mundane conversations, dumb questions, outright teasing... But that grew old quickly, and he started to feel sorry for keeping Tohma awake, even though the blond never directly complained to him about it. It was obvious from the start that the genius was tired as heck, but that genius would never admit it. Whenever Tohma took the backseat from that point, he would always fall asleep under his teammates' watch.

"It's actually pretty nice just working with the two of you and your Digimon. Before Miki and Megumi focused on operations, I was out on the field with them..." Yoshino confided, "Sometimes, honestly... I felt like I had an extra set of older sisters because of them... With all the good and bad that comes with that. Mostly the bad... But now I get to be the older sister for you two, so I'll try to keep it on the good end."

"Thanks for always driving us around," Masaru said, keeping the tone casual. "PhD or whatever, we're not even old enough to be allowed to drive for you."

"Hey, it's my one main specialty, so at least let me keep my role," she responded with a bit of exasperation. "You and Tohma stick to all that frontline action you love so much."

"Yeah, yeah." 

"Although, Tohma handles a lot more than just the frontline..."

Masaru looked to the back where Tohma was sleeping in plain sight. "Haa, this guy..."

"Things are pretty different for him despite his age, you know? Unlike you, he's very much an 'integral adult of society,' with his education background and all. He has a lot of responsibilities that you don't have to deal with."

Masaru did know. He remembered feeling childishly jealous about it at first, but deep down, he always knew better. They just grew up in different situations. Even though they were the same age, Tohma had a lot more responsibilities on his plate. YetIl in the end, Tohma was still there with him as a team, and that was what mattered most.

Yoshino changed the music track to one she felt in the mood to listen to. She always listened to peaceful ballads and the like from various movies and TV dramas. Masaru wasn't familiar with this particular one, but he could tell right off the bat that it was going to be full of cheesy, metaphorical lyrics about love and romance.

"I don't get how you don't fall asleep listening to this stuff. I'm good with calm music, but it sure wouldn't keep me awake hours into the night," Masaru commented.

"It's all about the melody and the memories that come with them, Masaru. The melodies keep me awake when I think about the movies and dramas the songs are from. It's the food for thought that keeps me going."

Masaru gave another grumble of wonder and looked to the back again, catching Tohma's sleeping face as the highway lights skid past rapidly. Even the constant on and off of lighting going over the blond's closed eyes didn't phase him as he slept straight through it all.

Masaru still felt an urge to bug Tohma, but then he questioned himself about what he would even bother the genius with.

Tohma, the over-worker... Not even a workaholic, just... overworking. He was only fourteen years old, but people expected him to do what others were doing at the peak of their careers.

Sure, they were both men, but at the same time, they were both still kids. Masaru was still getting frustrated at basic math problems on his homework, while Tohma was out there figuring out cross-dimensional thingamajigs with their DATS technology and doing all this breakthrough scientific research.

As a fellow man, they ended up so different, yet here they were, fighting together to keep the same peace. Even if they still argued on the occasion, they had really started establishing a good rhythm as a team. Coming home after each mission, Masaru consciously felt growing delight in how much more in sync they were getting each time. It was a really good feeling, and completely different from how his comradery with Agumon was holding up. Agumon followed Masaru's guidance on everything, but Tohma was always independent from him, coming together only when it really mattered... And that was just the way he liked it.

He did wish Tohma would take things a bit easier at times. Yes, it was a man's duty to go all out for a fight that mattered, but when it came to everything else, it wouldn't hurt to lighten up a bit... Instead of being so uptight all the time, Tohma would be so much lovelier if he just loosened up around him...

Lovelier... was that even the word he was looking for? Yoshino's music was getting into his head...

Was it the same for Tohma? Did he think the same way about Masaru? Did that genius even have the time to think about these kinds of things?

He wondered... if Tohma even had it within him to make that kind of connection with him, had it within him to see how far that connection could go.

Wait... How far he wanted that connection...? Suddenly, Masaru was questioning his own intentions. How far... How much... Did he want that connection...

Was it enough to want to touch that fully exposed cheek, chin, neck area... practically dancing at him under the flickering lights...

Was that even... all he wanted?

The smile that Tohma had given him as he took a hold of Seadramon's egg to conclude their mission flickered in his mind.

"Masaru? Is something going on with Tohma? You've been looking back there this entire song..."

Just then, he realized his own thoughts matched up almost exactly with those cheesy song lyrics playing in the background. From staring at Tohma while he was sleeping and remembering moments that just happened earlier in the night... He wasn't trying to make it that way, that was just how it actually happened...

"N-Nothing's going on with him... But I think something might be going on with me."

"O...oh..."

Yoshino didn't say anything after that, keeping her eyes on the road as the music switched to the next tune. She still didn't say anything else as Masaru continued looking back, even though she had just pointed it out. It seemed she knew to give some time to let things sink in.

Eventually however, Yoshino pointed out that Masaru was going to get a sore neck from craning over one side for so long, so he finally stopped to face forward in the car.

But not before he engraved the image of Tohma in that peaceful sleeping expression in his mind. And remembering the smile Tohma would give him after finishing a hard-fought mission. And realizing that he wanted to see more like it...

Much more like it...

So much more...

Back then, he never thought to actually DO anything about what he considered to be uncertain desires. He never knew back in those days if Tohma felt the same way, and it wasn't like there was any room or time for him to really work towards making anything happen. Once the scene was set in motion with Kurata versus Digimon, there simply wasn't time to deal with anything other than the Digimon. To suddenly switch back to thinking about his connection with Tohma after all was said and done...

Issues involving Digimon were upfront and easier to think about dealing with. Something in him just wasn't ready to deal with anything else back then.

And to think, it wouldn't be until he was about to leave the human world behind that he would ever find out about Tohma sharing those desires...

Back then, he didn't have room in his backpack to fit that discovery in for his move to the Digital World.

After over three years... The space was probably there now. He just had to wipe the dust off.

But after the changes over the years, would those resurfacing discoveries fit in that space? Or had they moved onto other interests altogether... There was no blaming Tohma if that were the case, considering the brute note on which he had left things.

That was just how he always was, though, living by his fists... He knew Tohma generally accepted that about him, even if the genius would still criticize him once in a while. In the end... he was grateful to Tohma for the occasional reality check. He was grateful that Tohma was still willing to put up with him at all, really...

Now whether that was out of a simple survival necessity, or whether Tohma was still available for that space...

Masaru needed something to give him that one little push to find out.


	4. Day 3

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

DAY 3

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Masaru woke up to a waft of a toasty, vaguely nutty scent.

He was wrapped up in the blanket, alone. He shifted his head to look around him. Hmm? Where was Tohma?

"Good morning," a voice called to him.

Ah... That angelic tone. Sounded like at least Tohma had a good night of sleep.

He saw the blond--fully dressed with his vest on again--open the curtains, letting a beam of natural lighting flood into the room. The light sparkled on a set of three teacups on the table next to the window.

"Gaomon made an original blend. Would you like some?"

"Um..." Masaru grumbled a bit as he rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Sure..."

Tohma poured him a cup, setting it on the other end of the table for when Masaru was ready to take it. Masaru gazed at the steady stream of steam coming out of the cup for a good minute, still sitting on the bed.

Gaomon, who had been standing next to Tohma, walked over to pick up his own cup after Tohma sat down at the table and started sipping his own.

"Gaomon, I've missed your tea. It's wonderful. Thank you," Tohma said to break the silence after the blank minute.

"I'm glad you like it, Master."

Masaru got up to take his cup, but had second thoughts about it when he found it was still hot to the touch. Guess he needed to let it cool down for a while...

"I thought you'd be heading out to check for the sample first thing after waking up."

"I've already gone out and checked. The sample didn't show up."

"Eh, did I sleep through everything?" Masaru expressed some disappointment with himself.

"Not surprised after that long, rough ride we had yesterday. I'd be lying if I claimed that my arms weren't sore today."

Masaru's arms felt a little sore too, but he knew he could shake it off during the day if he just kept going. "You can wake me up next time. I don't mind going with you."

"All right then."

"But no sample today, huh..."

"I've been looking into what could be causing it to not show up, but all my results indicate that it's not something I have control over. I'm still sure it's on some kind of external influence... Since we're in a populated area like this, there are so many possibilities for whatever this 'external influence' could be, however."

"Won't that be like trying to find a needle in a haystack with a place like this?"

"Definitely not on that level. In fact, it could be closer to us than we might think. Either way, I have a few ideas about how to narrow it down. There are still a few days left to get down to the bottom of it, and I think I'll have a much better idea after today's explorations."

"If you say so..."

After a few minutes just watching the morning hustle and bustle down below, a sudden chill ran down Masaru's back. It was always cold in the mornings in Digicon Valley, what with it being located at the bottom of a huge cliff and not actually receiving direct heat from the sun. Yet all the activity that happened in the city kept the temperatures comfortable during the daytime, and Digimon themselves weren't nearly as sensitive to temperature differences... They had access to hot water in the shower, and a pot to boil water in, but other conveniences like heating and air conditioning weren't really a thing. Masaru just got used to hanging around the cold mornings over time.

Still, his chilled senses welcomed the steam from his teacup. Masaru went ahead and took a sip.

It was the first time he'd had hot tea in ages...

Masaru was always neutral about tea back in the human world. He knew it was a super Japanese thing to just have tea when it was the only drink available, but he never had a particular liking for it. It was always just flavored water for him...

But this was the first time he felt like drinking tea actually gave him energy, a kind of energy that water by itself didn't give. He could feel its heat spreading throughout, all the way down to his previously-cold feet, even in his hotel slippers.

"I don't normally care for tea, but this is a great pick-me-up."

"What's this? A newfound appreciation for tea?" Tohma said with curiosity.

"I guess."

"Good. It's another sign that you've matured. Your tastes are becoming more refined."

"That's kind of gross the way you say it..."

"Tastes can change over time, it's normal."

But it was true... There were some foods he used to actively evade if he could do anything about it, but since coming to the Digital World and being at the will of the Digivice's whimsical menu, he had come to tolerate a lot of things he couldn't stand before, and he even grew to like some things he hadn't before. The Digivice had forced him to welcome more diversity in his palate.

"I think my taste in things like music have changed too, even. I remember liking nothing but heavy rock type of stuff, but there's almost no music like that here in the Digital World--it's all just the occasional strange songs the Digimon sing, and their mishmash of music instruments that have been here without anyone questioning why... It was strange at first, but I took a liking to it once I got used to it..."

"Digimon music, huh."

"It's more than just Lalamon singing, if that's what came to your mind."

"Mm, caught me red-handed. I honestly have no experience otherwise," Tohma responded in all frankness.

"I think some of the music is directly from the human world, like... They're vaguely familiar, sometimes." A small eureka hit Masaru for what they could do in the city. "Speaking of which... There's a concert here tomorrow if you're interested. I remember seeing a sign advertising it on our way in."

Masaru rubbed the side of his tea cup idly. "Maybe the music styles have changed since the last time I went."

"Ah, I saw that sign as well. You learned to read DigiCode?"

"Some of it... the parts that are translatable into Japanese at least."

"That's still pretty impressive for the likes of you. You'd impress me even more if you had English covered too, of course."

"I'm not trying to IMPRESS you."

Tohma threw Masaru a relaxed smile just then, making the brunet hold his breath for a sharp moment. "But yes, let's go to that concert. I'll look forward to it."

Masaru brought his tea cup over his mouth, distracting himself from Tohma's smile. The brunet had been to one of the concerts here before... Agumon sure enjoyed it (although he fell asleep at a few points), and the concerts were growing in popularity with Digimon in general. He wasn't about to admit that Tohma was the one person he'd think of if he had the opportunity to invite someone to go with him. The fact of the matter was he was there right now, accepting that invitation.

"I look forward to it, too."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

They set out of the hotel after a light breakfast (courtesy of Tobucatmon leading them to the breakfast bar), into the bright daylight of Digicon Valley. Other Digimon were already out and about, mingling at food stands and shopping at the variety of buildings and stalls around them.

They started at one end of the city, where there was a line of Digimon, each towing bags or carts of food and gadgets. The start of the line led to a massive warehouse.

"Visitors bring in food or other goods from where they came from and exchange it for the currency here," Gaomon explained. "Things are spaced farther apart compared to what you'd find back in the human world, to accommodate larger Digimon."

They passed by a food stand where a Monzaemon and DORUgremon waited to be served. Indeed, there was a decent amount of space for such giants to still have room to swish their tails without slapping their neighbors constantly.

Masaru pointed out random things as they continued walking through the street, starting with... a plain ol' waste bin next to the food stand.

  
"Waste gets put into recycling bins that clear out at midnight. Digital World things. The same thing happens to our clothes anyway, right? Any stain or odor is cleared out, good as new."

"The midnight refresh, yes..." Tohma recalled. "The Digital World sure has some strange conveniences."

"Hey, if it means I don't have to do my laundry, I'm all for it. More time for fighting! Speaking of which, we should check out the boxing center..."

"Ah... the boxing center has been closed for the time being," Gaomon informed the brunet. "Not many were using it, so it's been converted to a rehearsal hall for performing arts."

"Haa? I'm gonna have to talk with Renamon about that later..."

"Last I heard, a pack of Togemon was involved in chasing everyone out of the boxing center. But then those Togemon left after the city chased THEM out..." Gaomon recalled. "The rehearsal hall, on the other hand, is constantly in use."

"Sounds a little more complicated than just asking Renamon to turn it back into a boxing center..." Tohma said with raised eyebrows. "You're up against the politics of the city. I'm sure there'd be many opposed to losing their rehearsal hall."

"Huh? They could just move that rehearsal hall somewhere else, or at least put up a new boxing center somewhere else if they had to."

"And who's going to be using it? You, who rarely even come here... Gaomon? And...?"

"Uh..."

"See? It's no surprise the Digimon decided to use the space for something else more relevant to them."

"I just want the boxing center back, that's all. I mean, sure it's kind of my fault for not coming here much, but..."

"Digimon in the city these days tend to have more interest in the music and arts rather than fighting," Gaomon said in an informational tone. "Ruffians like those Togemon would sooner get chased out entirely rather than figuring out how to get them to play nice."

"Bah, if I'd been around for it, I would've punched some sense into them."

"Too late now. Conflicts happen anywhere people gather," Tohma said on a somber note. "You need to be reasonable with your requests at least. Even if you get VIP treatment, you can't just demand that they put the boxing center back in if only you and Gaomon are going to use it."

"Yeah, yeah... So how would you go about it, Mr. Genius?"

"A simple petition would work, by showing Renamon how many would actively use the boxing center if it were reinstated. If you gather enough Digimon who would use it regularly, I'm sure that would provide a worthy justification."

"Haa, what a bother... I should just ask Renamon to expand the city into an even bigger valley, and then we'd have space for it. If we need more manpower to get that going, then I'll arrange it."

"That's definitely a lot of work on its own too... but certainly more befitting of your style. And wouldn't that be a new city altogether? This city already covers wall-to-wall for this half of the valley..."

"Hmm, I guess so. Might be time to make one in the other half!"

They blinked at each other and then couldn't help but chuckle.

The trio wandered into a cluster of shops full of electronic parts and gadgets, and Masaru let Tohma explore to his delight. Not like he knew anything about this particular area...

"What is with this surplus of processor chips from the latest... If these aren't defects, I could do so much with these..."

"Do you want one, Master?" Gaomon said, pulling out some change (from his glove...?). "I could buy it for you."

"Well, to be honest, if I just wait for the official release next month, it won't be hard for me to get one on release day. I should just wait..."

"Oh just get it, Tohma. It's dirt cheap here anyway," Masaru butt in, preemptively nodding at the store clerk Penmon to proceed with the purchase. Tohma didn't even get the chance to protest.

Leaving after the quick purchase with the processor chip in-hand, they moved onto another stall where Tohma ended up staring at the wares once again.

"Anything cool here?" Masaru asked as he also looked around, not knowing what anything was.

"Nothing I need in particular, but it's still amazing to see all this new, unreleased technology just lying around here, completely ready to go... but who's around to use them here?"

"I think the Andromon and Nanomon we saw yesterday use these."

"Right..." Without lingering on the subject, Tohma moved onto checking out the next stall.

It was certainly a good change of pace seeing Tohma so animated as he explored the shops. He definitely looked to be in his element. Even if Masaru didn't understand what the wares were, he did understand that Tohma was having a good time, and that was what mattered.

As they walked past the electronics shops and into another section of variety shops, Tohma started fiddling around with his DigiWindow once again. He was swiping furiously on it with one hand, seemingly typing out a plethora of memos for later reference. He even put his glasses on...

"This is incredible, Masaru... Heck, we were just talking about how the Digital World could solve so many of the human world problems the other day, and here, it's as if much of it is already in practice..."

"Umm... Yeah."

"How did this even happen in the first place? I can't imagine you planned out something as grand as this..."

Masaru felt mildly insulted somewhere, but he had to admit it was the truth. "Well... At some point in my travels, I had a lot of um... one too many followers tagging along with me."

"I'm imagining a whole bunch of Agumons."

"Pretty much," Masaru laughed. "But yeah, I had a pretty big pack for a while. Things were getting a little... extra for me, so I thought about setting up a base of some sort for them. And the rest is just as I mentioned before... These guys did a lot of this on their own. Whenever I get a new follower or make a new friend, I recommend them to come here."

"What about HippoGryphomon?"

"Yeah, I told her too... She'll think about it, but she didn't seem all that interested. Some of them are just like that."

"True enough. It's quite fascinating for me."

"I can sure tell..." Masaru gave Tohma a mild shrug, which the genius may or may not have even noticed, as he continued burying himself in his DigiWindow.

"Haa? That's all you're giving me for this?! This is a one-of-a-kind pin-up of Lilamon-sama, I'll have you know!"

From one of the stalls on the way, a Toucanmon was opening his large beak in exasperation in front of a much larger Digimon, who looked just as frustrated. The other Digimon stood up tall on its clawed feet and swished its two tails in agitation.

"Hey, I came a long, looong way for this, I'll have YOU know! I had to lug this a suuuuper long way just to present it here!" The Digimon pointed to a modest pile of rainbow bananas next to him with the long claws on his hands.

The Toucanmon, despite being an easy six or so times smaller, didn't back down an inch. "The standard for one of these is easily three or even five times the amount you're offering!"

"That's ridiculous for a piece of paper! Who in the world would pay up that much?!"

"A piece of paper? A piece of PAPER?!! Is that all you think this is?! Say that again in front of Lilamon-sama, I dare you!"

Masaru hadn't seen that other Digimon before, but it sure stood out amongst the crowds in that particular shopping area. Not only was he one of the larger folks in the area, but the raptor-like creature and his vibrant green and red colors gave an instant 'exotic' impression. Four giant leaves stood up from his back like a pair of fairy wings.

Tohma was already ahead of Masaru's thought to ask what the Digimon was, and he soon had the information up on his DigiWindow. "Tropiamon, a Perfect level Plant Digimon who inhabits jungles. It can secrete toxin from its leaves that can even dissolve iron. The scent from its body, which is like a mixture of all kinds of fruits, can get so intense that those who haven't adapted to it will forcibly pass out."

  
"Well, I can smell him from here, but it's not that bad... It's like a mild version of durian or something," Masaru commented as he started getting closer to the arguing Digimon.

"If you're a dedicated fan, you wouldn't be this much of a cheapskate for something you really love!" Toucanmon crossed his wings as he stood his ground against Tropiamon.

  
Tropiamon snarled, letting the two long 'feelers' on the tip of his snout curl in and then back out. "Haa? If that's how you wanna be, I've got another idea. How about exchanging THIS for it instead?"

Tropiamon suddenly lunged at Toucanmon with his claws extended.

"Ahhh!" Toucanmon shrieked and covered his face with his wings by reflex to brace for the impact... but the claws never connected.

WHAM!

Instead, the claws halted right in front of Masaru's face. The fighter had put his fist right in the direction of Tropiamon's claws, just barely dodging the sharp talons as they went completely around his fist.

Toucanmon shrieked again, shorter this time, when he saw he was still safe and Masaru had stepped in to cover him.

"Getting a little rowdy with our little merch guy here, are ya?" Masaru said through clenched teeth as he pushed back on Tropiamon's arm.

  
Tropiamon seemed unphased by the human's appearance, perhaps too caught up in his rage. "You want some of this too? Looks like demand is rising!"

Tropiamon's other set of claws surged in Masaru's direction while the first set was still occupied with Masaru's fist.

"RAWR!"

  
But to the large Digimon's dismay, Masaru saw the claws coming and ducked away just in time. Tropiamon's lunge with both arms caused him to lose balance, and he tried to regain it by stamping one of his back legs forward... but doing so left him completely open.

With a swift sidestep, Masaru socked a big one into Tropiamon's cheek. The punch of momentum sent both of them reeling in opposite directions... but Tropiamon, already struggling with his balance, completely keeled over and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Masaru's fist started glowing...

"All right!" Masaru shouted, grinning from the adrenaline rush he got out of the punch. "Let's go, Agu..."

Oh right, he wasn't there...

Tohma stepped in from behind, with Gaomon nearby. His glasses were off, and he had his Digivice out and Digisoul ready to go. Guess he was done geeking out for now... "I've got you covered if you need any assistance, Masaru."

Tropiamon shook his head as he used his arms to get back up. "Oh wait, humans, with Digisouls? And the one who fights Digimon with his bare fists... You must be the one I've heard about. Ohh man, count me out on this."

No sooner after getting up, the raptor-like Digimon hung his head and clapped his claws together in front of him. "Have mercy! I'll stop bugging the merchant. I just wanna enjoy the concert tomorrow..."

Masaru took a deep breath, letting his Digisoul dissipate naturally. "Hey, so do we."

Tropiamon's demeanor went completely docile in contrast to his attitude from just earlier. "You all can keep the payment for the trouble I caused. I don't want to lug those fruits around any longer than I need to anyway. They're a specialty where I come from..."

As Tropiamon wandered away, Tohma looked over at the rainbow banana pile and then at Toucanmon. Toucanmon shrugged quietly, expression still in a bit of shock.

Masaru opened his palm after having it clenched for the entire little fiasco, remembering once again that his partner Digimon wasn't there to fight alongside him. Tohma and Gaomon were there instead...

He shook his head. No, he said he wouldn't linger on thoughts of missing Agumon for the rest of the week. Focus, focus...

"Well, glad that's all sorted out. Move on, everyone!"

Masaru shooed away the Digimon crowds that had gathered around the scene. A handful were ones he personally recognized, while the rest seemed to be visitors he hadn't met before.

"You guys want these rainbow bananas? They're all yours if you want," Toucanmon said, pointing to the bananas with a wing.

"Just one, to try it out..." Tohma said with some reserve.

Masaru already had one peeled and was eating away at it. "Tastes like an ordinary banana. That's almost a letdown. But well... The texture makes it feel like I'm eating a cream pie or something... Not bad at all."

Tohma and Gaomon agreed after eating their own.

The two humans and Gaomon continued their tour through the city afterwards. They eventually made it past all the shopping areas and reached the center plaza, where they were met with a huge, open area all on smooth pavement. At the center of the plaza was a familiar looking fountain.

"Another meat fountain?" Tohma asked as he looked up at it. It was completely 'dormant' for the time being, and none of the Digimon around paid it any attention otherwise.

Masaru beckoned the other to come over to sit down next to him at the fountain ledge.

"Yep. This one's not nearly as active as the one HippoGryphomon took us to, though. Supplies way less when feeding time comes, at least... so the really big Digimon don't tend to bother with this one. I guess that Tropiamon from earlier would be about the biggest customer we get in these streets? Any bigger, and they usually hang out in the outer ends where there's more space..."

Tohma and Gaomon sat down next to the brunet, taking in the sights around the plaza. Tohma seemed to be in high spirits after the exploration, much to Masaru's relief.

Tohma spoke up. "That Tropiamon said he had come a long way to get here, yet he'd still heard about you, apparently... Your presence is sure getting around all over this world. How's it feel to be a celebrity?"

"Huh? I'd rather be a banchou than a celebrity. And someone out there isn't gonna know ya no matter how famous you get... HippoGryphomon for example."

"True. Speaking of celebs, when they mentioned 'Lilamon-sama'..."

Masaru grinned with a little bit of weariness. "Yeah, it's the one we know. She's kinda got an idol thing going on here, apparently."

Digimon CAN evolve without Digisoul of course--Chika's Piyomon was a prime example, as well as many of the Digimon who had appeared in the human world. And who could ever forget their final fight against Yggdrasil where their partner Digimon evolved without the use of Digisoul... While these evolutions were connected to human feelings, evolution still happened naturally in the Digital World too, as HippoGryphomon mentioned. With enough energy saved up, Lalamon was able to retain her form as Lilamon for a full concert night, and then some.

"She's not the only star at the concert tomorrow, if you're wondering. A whole bunch of Digimon are performing."

"Yeah, the poster I saw mentioned that."

"Ah..." Masaru remembered that there was a portion of the poster that he couldn't read, so it must've been in English...

They sat down for a while longer, just enjoying a small break from walking around for most of the morning. In silence, they watched Digimon pass by the plaza, heading off to other parts of the city. Even without including the giants, the diversity of Digimon in the city was really impressive... Tohma put the DigiWindow on his lap and just watched it spit out various information on each new Digimon who passed by. It was almost like a mixture of bird and people-watching, as odd as it sounded.

A section of the plaza opened up to an especially spacious area leading towards the section where the largest Digimon hung out. An occasional Tyrannomon or the like would show up at that end of the plaza to meet up with the smaller Digimon, and vice versa.

Masaru actually didn't mind hanging out at the plaza so much, despite still being salty that the boxing center wasn't available anymore. No doubt they would be boxing each other's lights out if it were still there... Or maybe that wasn't such a great idea after all, as the whole point of the tour was to show Tohma all the things that Digicon Valley had to offer that no other place had. Now that they had reached the plaza, the whole spectrum of Digimon diversity was all there, taking part in the magic of city life.

Tohma stared blankly between his DigiWindow and the sight of Digimon passing by. "It feels so strange just sitting around without a real agenda at hand..."

"Is it that strange? It's a thing called relaxing. You should try it more often."

"......"

"When's the last time you've gotten a break like this anyway?"

"I honestly don't know... Maybe it was during the last time I went to a concert."

"So you've been to a concert before?"

"I've been to ones for classical music. I'm sure it's going to be quite different here."

"I think they still play classical here. Kinda. They don't have the same instruments for the most part, but I bet you'd recognize some of it... even though I sure don't."

"Oh really. That's quite intriguing... I have even more to look forward to, then. I haven't been to a concert since... I think it was sometime before you joined DATS."

"Geez, that long ago?"

"Back when I was in Austria..."

"Hmm..."

Masaru let the subject go. He'd honestly forgotten until just then that Tohma was half-Austrian... that Tohma was some big-shot nobleman back in the human world. Yet in the Digital World, right then and there, none of that mattered. None of that mattered, because for Masaru, the only other human in that world, Tohma was just Tohma...

A certain thought wouldn't leave Masaru's head, in which he wondered if they were back in the human world... would he still be there with Tohma, watching the passersby at some popular plaza during their break time?

Just like a normal date, if he had returned those feelings that day...

......

At one point, they were sitting back to back, and Tohma leaned back against him. Masaru leaned back all the same, mutually keeping the two of them upright in place of a backrest. Whether the blond was comfortable with it, Masaru wasn't sure. And he wasn't about to bring it up between them either...

Instead, Masaru sunk further until the back of his head rested over Tohma's shoulder.

"Mm?"

Tohma turned his head slightly towards the brunet, which Masaru felt through his side bangs.

"Just... stay and relax..." the brunet murmured.

Tohma responded in silence, going back to viewing the DigiWindow and all the information passing through it.

Yes, just like that... As long as he had Tohma's presence... For just that moment, it felt like it was all he ever needed.

The warmth of Tohma's back against his was just so nice, he didn't want to get up... He almost dozed off in the sheer bliss of the moment.

All was peace and quiet... until the sky interrupted to give him a reminder that things weren't so simple.

Masaru happened to be looking up at the sky when it happened. A small figure burst out of the hologram of clouds--one without wings, which was most certainly strange. It was diving with its backside, heading straight for the plaza. Barely a moment later, an Airdramon followed, diving in the same direction as the smaller figure.

The Airdramon lashed out with its tail, wrapping around the small figure as they both sped towards the plaza like meteors. It didn't have enough leeway to get airborne again after having to dive so far to reach the flightless Digimon... They were going to crash. Within seconds, the fighter saw that they were in direct trajectory, and his eyes blinked open wide.

"Tohma, we better get out of the way, something's coooomingg!"

Tohma still had his eyes peeled to his DigiWindow and some Digimon in another direction. Gaomon tugged at him for attention. "Master!"

They moved out of the way just in time, as the Airdramon came crashing into the ground at the plaza. There was an attempt to reduce the impact from usage of its wings, but the two Digimon still ended up taking a fair brunt of damage.

The Airdramon unraveled its tail just enough for the trapped Digimon to break loose. Another Digimon that Masaru had never seen before...

It looked just slightly smaller than him, with both human and wolf-like features... A werewolf? The creature had lavender and white fur, large gloves over its clawed hands, and a variety of belt buckles all over its body...

As it regained its bearings and shook its head, the raggedy scarf around its neck billowed out into the air. It let out a growl as it slowly rose on its two feet.

"Strabimon, Demon Man Digimon," Tohma stated as he read off the DigiWindow. "Despite being a Child level Digimon, even Adult level Digimon will struggle against him when his combat instincts are left unchecked."

Masaru approached, intending to ask Strabimon if the two Digimon were okay and needed any help... Instead of even acknowledging Masaru's presence, Strabimon leaned back and... howled.

"AroooooooOOOOoooooo!!"

Digimon around the plaza had already been looking at the scene since the crash, but upon the howl, a number of them went running off. Fight or flight mode activated...

Masaru knew things were about to get a little hairy...

Strabimon dashed past Airdramon's tail... And straight after Airdramon itself. Airdramon had just shaken its head to see the small Digimon coming at it. Airdramon opened its massive mouth and lunged likewise. Strabimon's two clawed hands clashed with Airdramon's mouth, and he held the mouth open while growling fiercely once again. The dragon-headed Digimon pushed against Strabimon, threatening to close its mouth on the small wolf-man.

They were fighting each other... Masaru backed up a bit in confusion. Was this some kind of territorial battle? Or...

Suddenly, Strabimon jumped away, causing Airdramon to fall forward when nothing was there to hold it back. With another loud growl, Strabimon flexed his claws wide open and charged towards Airdramon's skull-armored bone head. Once he had a grip on the skull, he started trying to rip the bone skull straight off the head.

Now that wasn't very friendly...

Airdramon started wailing at the invasive attack, trying to fling Strabimon off by rearing its head. But Strabimon simply growled even more violently and went to pull on the skull even more aggressively.

"There's no data here about what happens if you take the bone skull off an Airdramon..." Tohma commented idly, finally putting away his DigiWindow after processing the information he needed. "But either way, this seems a little excessive for a territorial fight..."

"That's no ordinary territory tiff, Tohma... I'm heading in to stop them!"

"Masaru!"

The fighter darted into the fray, not letting anything distract him, even Tohma's familiar shout of concern.

Strabimon was too occupied with Airdramon's skull to notice the human come in... until it was too late, and Masaru had already landed a solid punch in the wolf's cheek. Digisoul spilled out of the brunet's fist, but he was already well aware that he didn't have Agumon there to use it.

"Hey, Strabimon!" he shouted at the wolf-boy.

Normally, Strabimon would have turned in his direction by now, but instead he remained fixated on Airdramon. Something was off...

He punched Strabimon a second time, in the same spot, with his Digisoul-covered fist. The Digimon didn't turn his way whatsoever.

He was wrong to assume he would have the Digimon's attention. That had always been the case in just about any other time he came in for the punch... his fist was supposed to convey his feelings and open the eyes of anyone who felt it. But this time was different.

These Digimon... their eyes remained locked on each other, even after his punch...

Strabimon kept tearing at Airdramon's bone skull, growling vehemently and endlessly.

Why...

There was so much rage in Strabimon's amber eyes...

"Masaru, get out of there!"

This time, Tohma's concern reached him, but only enough for Masaru to barely react. He took a step back, a little shaken up from his punches not getting through...

It wasn't enough. Tohma had to run up to him and pull him back forcefully.

Airdramon wailed again and threw its head backward in a powerful swinging motion, carrying Strabimon with it. The momentum of the throwback sent Strabimon flying, and in another moment, there was a loud crunching noise that echoed even in the wide, open plaza.

  
Airdramon's enormous mouth, full of sharp fangs, had clamped down on Strabimon's body.

The echoing crunch was such an unnatural sound, especially for the Digital World, that even the bravest of the Digimon passersby fled from the vicinity. Strabimon fell unceremoniously onto the ground as Airdramon forced him out of its mouth. Blood pooled from the body.

Masaru's eyes widened. Blood, from a Digimon...?

In all his years being in the Digital World, Masaru had never seen it before.

Masaru's vision of Strabimon on the ground flashed between seeing the now-unconscious Digimon and his own self, after taking HippoGryphomon's attack.

Suddenly, the Airdramon wailed yet again. But this time, it glowed briefly, and then shrank... It de-evolved into another Digimon Masaru hadn't seen before. Like Strabimon, it stood like a human but had a beastly appearance, with stubbed horns in its wild red hair, and a long bushy tail that almost looked like it was on fire.

Tears were pouring out of its bright green eyes, and it stood in about the same amount of shock that Masaru was feeling.

Tohma and Gaomon rushed over to the unconscious Strabimon, completely undeterred by the scene before him. From his Digivice, Tohma realized medical gloves, a bath towel, and a water bottle, and he started investigating the bleeding Digimon.

"Masaru, can you realize your bath towel and water bottle too? I could use as many as we can get..."

"Wha..." he continued standing there, unmoving, dumbfounded.

"MASARU!!"

A jolt ran through him. How long had it been since he'd heard Tohma raise his voice against him like that...

It worked to get him moving again, at least. The brunet pulled out his Digivice and took out the items Tohma mentioned. Gaomon took them out of his hands, as Tohma was already busy doing something to Strabimon that was beyond his comprehension.

Tohma's hands were practically going inside the body, checking the Digimon's innards.

Digimon didn't normally have innards like that... or at least, Masaru had never seen them. It was a gruesome sight...

"Why isn't he turning back into a DigiEgg? Digimon don't normally sustain this much damage before turning back..." Masaru finally spoke.

"No, don't turn him back into a DigiEgg!!" The Digimon that Airdramon had de-evolved to came running up to them. It happened to run up in front of Tohma's DigiWindow next to Strabimon, and the Digimon's name came up on the screen: Flamon.

"He won't turn into one easily, not when he's in this form..." Flamon said with a low-hanging head. "And I know he still wants to live with these memories. I still want him to live with these memories... If he turns back into a DigiEgg, he'll lose them... I'll lose him..."

The red-haired Digimon snapped his head up to give Tohma a fierce stare. "Please... save him!! You humans have the power to do that, right?"

"His vital organs are all still okay, by some miracle, but so much of the rest of the bite areas are a mess..." Tohma gave Flamon only a cursory look before focusing back on Strabimon. "I doubt a hospital exists, considering Digimon don't normally end up in this condition... I could patch up the rest of him right here, but it'll take time. If he can hang on the whole way..."

"Yes, he will!" Flamon said sharply. "If there's anything I can help with, let me know!"

"More towels and water. Otherwise, just keep the area clear."

"O-Okay! ...Where are we anyway?" Flamon looked around him, finally realizing he wasn't in the plains that existed above the city anymore.

Masaru tapped Flamon on the shoulder, noticing how much smaller the Digimon had become after de-evolving. The tip of that tall, red hair barely reached Masaru's shoulder. "You're in Digicon Valley. Never been here before?"

"I've never seen anything like this place..."

Masaru led Flamon away from the scene, to do what they were able to do. Tohma stayed at Strabimon's side, working through a variety of tools he had realized from the Digivice and getting Gaomon's assistance in swapping them around.

The fighter and the flame Digimon returned with more towels and water, then started shoo-ing away the crowd that had gradually developed around them. Afterwards, they sat at the plaza fountain (which managed to stay intact after the impact for the most part, save for a few loose chunks of stone), watching Tohma and Gaomon from a distance and keeping a watch out for anyone who started to approach

"It was my fault that Strabimon went wild in the first place..." Flamon said to Masaru, looking down at his crossed legs. "He's the most precious friend I could ever have... It took us so long to get this far, I don't want to lose it all... Please, please..."

Masaru felt helpless in this kind of situation. Tohma was the one with the medical license and all the know-how, and even Gaomon had gone through all the studies with him, so he knew what he was doing. Masaru, on the other hand... all he could do was use his fists... and think of his experiences.

His situation with Agumon remembering him after being reborn from a DigiEgg was a definite miracle, not a norm by any means. Even if it was brief-lived, he knew how much it hurt to lose someone so close, even if they were still there physically, with their memories gone...

The irony of it all hurt him a bit too. He remembered glaring at Tohma one time when Falcomon first told them about Yukidarumon, and Tohma had stated that he thought 'death doesn't exist for Digimon'. But now... here Tohma was making all this effort to save a Digimon from dying, while Masaru could only stand back and watch over him.

Masaru and Flamon hadn't sat down at the fountain for very long when Renamon and Piyomon showed up at the plaza, carrying traffic signs that were used for street closures during construction. They set up the signs at an appropriate distance between the operation area and the passersby, not completely relieving Masaru and Flamon of bouncer duty, but at least establishing the rule.

One more Digimon accompanied the mayor and treasurer Digimon, a Liamon who gave Masaru a brief nod of a greeting before taking up a post at an opposite end to help keep the crowds in check. Masaru nodded back at the lion-like Digimon. An old friend that he could introduce to Tohma later, when he wasn't so busy...

Some tense hours passed, and the sunlight passed from the peak at the top of the sky and gradually headed towards the other end of the city. Tohma was still full-on concentrating on the operation, with Gaomon assisting him every step of the way. Eventually, Flamon opened up to Masaru regarding his origins and how they came to end up in the valley.

"Strabimon and I have been traveling around the Digital World in search of something to make us stronger. We might be Child-level Digimon right now, but we weren't always like this, you know? We used to be something else... until someone defeated us and we turned back into DigiEggs. The memories are faint--it's amazing we have any memories at all... We know we used to be something of great importance. After a long journey, we made it back to this point, but we spent years trying to move beyond this without any luck."

"Something in the back of my mind thought that maybe being together all the time was holding us back... so I suggested we explore on our own for a while... I didn't want to separate with him, and neither did he, but we both agreed it was to help each other out in the end. That's what I thought at least..."

"Well, after a couple long years, I finally came across a source that helped me to evolve into Airdramon like you saw before. I was so excited about it!! After that, I went to look for Strabimon again, thinking maybe it would help him out too. But when I finally found him and brought him there... When he saw me evolve into Airdramon, instead of being happy, he got upset, saying that it wasn't the evolution I used to have and that I was going down the wrong evolution path. I mean... we don't have any clear memory of what we used to be, so I'm not sure how he seemed so sure that Airdramon isn't my right evolution... "

"And what IS a right evolution path? What's considered 'wrong'? How am I supposed to know any of that? The next thing I remember, Strabimon had lost his sense of self and started attacking me in his full combat instinct mode. It wasn't the first time it had happened, and the other time it did, he would stop as long as someone knocked him out. So that was what I was trying to do, but Strabimon is really strong when his instincts kick in like that... We ended up in a Drimogemon cave, which somehow ended up here..."

The sky entrances to Digicon Valley were made from elaborate caves and tunnels that Drimogemon set up, so as to ensure that Digimon didn't randomly slip through from the plains and end up in the city. Apparently, it didn't stop these two, however...

It was such a heavily spoken story that when Flamon finally asked Masaru a question, it took a while for the brunet to register it.

"If Strabimon makes it out of this... what should I tell him when he wakes up? I never had a good chance to talk to him since reuniting with him, and now he's like this... I couldn't hold back the strength of my evolution... It's my fault..."

Masaru took a good look at the smaller Digimon sitting next to him before he responded. He thought back on the time Agumon turned back into a DigiEgg after losing control of his Burst Mode, and how jumbled his thoughts were back then. In his clouded logic, he had blamed Tohma for far too long...

"Don't keep blaming yourself, or anyone for that matter... you won't get anywhere that way. What's important here is... What do you REALLY feel, right now?"

Flamon also took his time to respond, staring over at Tohma's back as he operated on his friend. He took a deep breath and then touched his chest with his human-like hand as he spoke. "I... I miss him. It was so hard every day after we went our separate ways, I felt like I was looking for ways to evolve more so that I could just be with him again, rather than piecing together how our past lives used to be... I STILL don't know what happened in our past lives, but I do know that... I don't want to leave him ever again. I want to be by his side forever from here on. He means everything to me..."

Masaru's expression softened up. "Then be a man and just tell him all that when he wakes up. Don't hold back. Who knows, maybe he feels the same way."

"You think so? Yeah... Yeah, I'll tell him!" Flamon pumped both of his fists to seal the deal for himself.

"That's the way..." Masaru patted Flamon on the head, fluffy hair and all, while Flamon's tail swished back and forth in renewed optimism.

At the same time, Masaru realized his own advice applied to himself, too... Was the answer really that simple? His situation had a little more nuance to it...

Telling Tohma how he felt after all this time...

Either way, now certainly wasn't the moment for it. If he had already waited more than three years to do it, he could wait for a later time, when it was more appropriate.

"Thank you, uh... I never got your name, now that I think of it. I'm Flamon," came the late introduction as Flamon scratched his back with an embarrassed face.

"Daimon Masaru. Call me Masaru. And the guy working his butt off to save Strabimon over there is Tohma."

Honestly, he had no idea if Tohma could even hear them from their distance or not, though he leaned towards 'not'. Masaru could hear Tohma say something short and somewhat quietly to Gaomon once in a while, but Masaru had no idea what he was saying and only assumed it was medical jargon anyway. And even if Tohma could hear them, was he actually listening? Since he had all his attention on the patient in front of him...

He could ask Tohma later. He could ask Tohma a lot of things later...

  
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

  
Many different stories existed outside of Masaru's knowledge waiting to be told. Masaru and DATS's adventures in the Digital World weren't necessarily the only epic happenings there, by any means... Somewhere else in the Digital World, another Digimon's story could have put the entire world in peril at one point, and they may have never known. Perhaps Flamon and Strabimon's story had a connection to such a happening.

After a long, long ordeal with no breaks, Tohma washed his hands one final time, wiped his forehead, and stood up for an arm stretch.

Turning around to face Masaru and Flamon, he gave them a relieved smile. "He should be fine as long as he gets a few days of rest to let everything finish healing. Although with that beast blood of his, I wonder if he'll even need that long."

"Strabimon!!" Flamon rushed over as soon as he heard Tohma. He almost jumped with his entire body onto his still unconscious friend on the ground, but stopped himself at the last moment. Strabimon was covered almost completely in wrapping bandages from the neck down.

"Don't be too rough when moving him around, at least for tonight," Tohma advised.

Renamon and Piyomon, who had shown up again an hour or so before Tohma had finished, started applauding and cheering Tohma for his hard work. Other Digimon who had stuck around the plaza for whatever reason, even having to keep a far distance from view, started applauding as well. It was a brief, but heartfelt moment before the Digimon dispersed to continue on with their day. The Liamon who had helped safeguard the scene also departed with the crowd, before Masaru could even give him a word of thanks. That was fine and all, since Tohma went up next to him and brought his attention back to his more immediate surroundings.

Masaru came in with a fist ready for a bump, and Tohma took it readily.

"Flamon, if I could have a word with you..." Tohma indicated for Flamon to come over as he put some distance between the group.

Masaru figured Tohma was going to hand out some more medical advice or something, which worked out as Renamon approached him in the meanwhile.

"Quite the heroic display from Tohma we had here today," Renamon commented.

"Thanks for helping with the 'traffic' earlier on," Masaru said.

Renamon simply shook his head. "Liamon was the one who alerted us of the scene. It was the least we could do."

When Tohma and Flamon rejoined them, Renamon extended a paw towards Flamon.

"I'll assist with Flamon and Strabimon from here. I'm sure you all must be hungry; we can offer you a meal again like yesterday if you're interested?" He looked upon Flamon with his narrow fox-like eyes, ensuring that the shorter Digimon was included for the food offering. Flamon's eyes practically lit up.

Masaru just then realized they had skipped lunch entirely (aside from those rainbow bananas), and the sunlight was already starting to disappear from the city view. He hadn't paid attention to his stomach at all, but now that the situation wasn't drastic anymore, his stomach grumbled right on queue.

"Is it okay if I take a break at our hotel room first?" Tohma said, his face suddenly looking very tired. "You can go ahead and take everyone else out to eat."

"That's no problem!" Piyomon came along and chimed in. "Renamon can take everyone else, and I can hang out in the hotel lobby until you're ready. Tobucatmon's always fun to talk to, so take whatever time you need."

"I'll head back to the hotel too," Masaru said.

"I heard your stomach, Masaru. You really don't have to..."

"Naw, ignore my stomach for now. I'm staying with you."

"......." Frankly, Tohma just looked too tired to protest.

They took a shortcut (via Pegasmon "taxi") to get back to the hotel. As Piyomon immediately struck up a conversation with Tobucatmon at the lobby desk, Tohma sent Gaomon back into his Digivice and headed up to their room along with Masaru.

As soon as the two of them got past their room's door, Tohma nearly collapsed. Masaru managed to catch him before his head hit the wall.

"You okay, Tohma?!"

Whoa there... Masaru could see that Tohma was tired, sure, but so much that he was falling apart before reaching the bed?? He'd been walking next to him just fine earlier...

"I'm fine, just need a nap," Tohma said slowly, getting back on his own feet and leaving Masaru's hold. "So many hours focusing on unfamiliar Digimon anatomy, I had to figure out so many things along the way..."

Tohma fluttered over to the bed. "Wake me up... in fifteen minutes," came a small muttering that Masaru just barely understood.

The blond was out like a light as soon as he landed on top of all the bed coverings.

Masaru felt the slightest bit of deja-vu as he watched Tohma snoozing away, head turned and lying on his stomach. He wasn't even on the nice, fluffy pillows...

The fighter sat down at the table where they had tea in the morning and looked towards the bed. He was getting an awful lot of opportunities to watch Tohma sleep this week...

Yep, he definitely had no urge to bug Tohma back awake. Tohma took all the real heroics today, but Masaru knew there was much more to his thoughts than that.

Masaru wanted the power to protect everything important to him. That included both humans and Digimon... And Tohma. He thought his fist could solve the incident with Strabimon, like it did for any other fight... but it didn't. It didn't do a thing. If anything, he was just lucky enough that he didn't get injured again, and that was because Tohma pulled him out of harm's way.

His fists didn't help him against HippoGryphomon either. The more he learned about the world, the more he was finding these kinds of situations coming up, again and again.

He wasn't about to give up his way of the fist though, of course. He had no doubts that he had his fists to thank for a lot of things, like helping out that Toucanmon. For his bonds with the residents he brought to Digicon Valley. For the opportunity to build Digicon Valley in the first place. For saving both worlds from Yggdrasil's misjudgment. There were plenty of other examples...

But ever since Tohma came into his life, he had gradually started to acknowledge that there were more ways to handle things, more ways to leave his impact on the world the way he envisioned it... And the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Tohma's methods were a huge carry for Masaru's own success.

Even Digicon Valley's existence... If Tohma hadn't broken out of MetalPhantomon's curse, who knows if they'd still be alive today, relaxing in the same buildings they had chanced upon during their travels.

There was a long queue of things he needed to thank Tohma for, but he had never gotten the chance since one crisis after another happened back in their younger days. And now, things had gotten awkward to bring it up...

No way in heck was he going to keep it that way, though. He was going to make something out of it, while Tohma was still there for it.

Eventually, his stomach growled again and he realized he'd been staring at Tohma for more than fifteen minutes, lost in his own thoughts. He gave Tohma a nudge on the shoulder. It took an extra strong nudge for the blond to react at all.

Tohma slowly opened his eyes, very much still in a groggy mood. Masaru had to take his eyes away... the blond looked so vulnerable...

"I think I might have gone a few minutes over... Anyway, I'm starving. You ready to eat yet? I'm sure you'll feel better after some grub."

Tohma grumbled as he pushed himself up with his arms. "Yeah... let's go."

"We can head back after and just chill for the night. We'll get to check out the nightlife tomorrow for the concert, after all."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

  
After a hearty bowl of udon and other nostalgic Japanese comfort food, Piyomon waved goodnight to the two humans and Gaomon. Gaomon had once again gone back into Tohma's Digivice for the night, and the two finally got to spend some peace and quiet in the hotel room.

Well, mostly quiet... Peace wasn't exactly in the state of Masaru's heart at that time at all.

At least Tohma looked considerably more alive after the meal; he was already back to fiddling with his DigiWindow at the tea table when they settled in for the night, glasses on and all.

"I was surprised at how you went to help Strabimon so quickly when the accident happened," Masaru said as he did some idle stretches on the bed.

"It felt like my body moved before my mind," Tohma replied in retrospect. "As soon as I saw all that blood, I started remembering about your scar, and the incident behind it..."

Eh? In other words, he was thinking of Masaru back there?

"You weren't even there when it happened..."

He looked at Tohma, trying to figure out what was being said in the silence that followed.

But Tohma shook his head after a while. "I'm probably just more conscious about it because this is all in the Digital World. You have no human hospital to fall back on here. Or... you could also say it was the same as seeing someone having a medical emergency if I had come across them in the streets of the human world, and that's actually happened to me before... Although that person only needed a Heimlich maneuver."

"A Hamlet maneuver, what?"

"Heimlich maneuver. The person was choking on something they were eating while walking. Technically, it was a child stuffing a hard candy too big for himself..."

"Assuming the kid learned to not do THAT again, huh."

"Indeed."

"Heh, I feel like I've learned a lesson today too..." Masaru laid back on the bed, grinning with full earnest. "Thanks, Tohma."

"Hmm?"

"For thinking about me."

"....."

It was the first of many belated thanks he wanted to give, no matter how awkward and touchy the circumstances behind it were. He closed his eyes to avoid seeing Tohma's facial reaction, since he needed to elaborate.

"You're always reminding me that there're more ways to get through life than just punching everything. My scar from HippoGryphomon... it's a scar I deserved. I have to own up to what it represents. And it was thanks to you reminding me that I was able to get through to HippoGryphomon, finally."

"I did mention before that you've changed, Masaru. And it's a change for the better, I have no doubts about that now."

"Hey hey now, just remember this isn't about me... This is about YOU."

"Mm... But this all stems from you in the end..."

"Hey, MY PUNCHES weren't the thing that saved Strabimon, Tohma. It was you who did everything..."

Masaru rested a hand over his chest where his scar was covered by his tank top. He thought of how his punches didn't help him with HippoGryphomon either. It was medical intervention that saved his life from that incident as well, just like Strabimon.

If Tohma had been there during his incident with HippoGryphomon, he wondered how things would've been different at that point. Everything would be so different...

Yes, not all things had to be solved with a punch. Including what happened with Tohma before he left for the Digital World.

There were other ways, and Masaru was starting to feel it in him to be able to go through with it.

"You say I did everything for the incident with Strabimon, but you still won't take the title of the Messiah for this city?"

Even though Tohma's comment was lighthearted, it still evoked Masaru to speak back immediately.

"But I'm saying this is because you... Are we going in circles or something? I dunno what I'm really trying to say at this point anymore..."

Masaru felt lost on his train of thought mid-sentence, and words started coming out before he could make sense of them. "It's like... when I'm with you, I feel like my options are all expanded, and I can do a whole lot more than I ever could all on my own, or with anyone else, really... I mean, there's a lot when it comes to being with the Digimon that I can't do with anyone else too, but when it comes to other people... It's just... with you..."

Masaru could feel a blush coming on, and he had to turn away on the bed to prevent Tohma from noticing. Maybe he was saying too much and weirding Tohma out. How did this turn out so weird from just wanting to thank the genius?

Change of subject...

"Um, ANYWAY... Did you hear anything when Flamon and I were talking back at the plaza?"

There was a bit of an excruciating pause from Tohma before he answered. "...No, I tuned out everything else while I was operating... why ask?"

"No particular reason! Just thinking Flamon was a pretty interesting fella... kinda reminded me of Ikuto, in some distant way." Masaru kept his head turned away.

"If you say so..."

Masaru thought back on the conversation he had with Flamon, wondering if the little guy was working up his courage to talk to Strabimon at that very moment. Wondering if he was waiting by Strabimon's side for him to wake up...

Flamon's one desire was to be with Strabimon. It was just one simple desire.

Masaru had a desire too... But his was more selfish. It was much more than one simple desire, and each of those desires had their own complications. One... was in the room with him.

Tohma was right there in front of him. He could convey his feelings right now, if he really felt like it...

But when Masaru opened his eyes and turned back around, he saw that Tohma was still rattling away on his DigiWindow. He gave a small sigh, not wanting to disturb Tohma's concentration anymore, and he decided to relax in bed, prepping for sleep.

At one point, the blond put on a complicated expression as he scrolled through the vat of information he had just typed out, then gave Masaru a discerning look.

"Huh? Something wrong, Tohma?"

"Just thinking..." Closing his DigiWindow, Tohma put away his glasses and got onto his side of the bed. "It's only a theory for now, but to prove it... Would be difficult."

"What theory?"

"......" Tohma didn't say anything, instead just settling under the blanket.

"Huh?" Masaru continued in a somewhat prying fashion.

"You said you rarely come to this city, right?"

"Yeah... The last time I came here was maybe over a whole year ago at this point."

"What kept you out of a place like this? You're keen on inviting other Digimon here, but you don't come here much yourself..."

"Well, it's not like I'm here to SETTLE or anything. There's still a lot out there I need to take care of."

"Still, not coming back for over a year..."

"Every time I do come here, it brings back a lot of memories... And..."

There were some things he wasn't ready to admit yet... He turned away from Tohma again.

"Do you get homesick?"

"......" Masaru hesitated to answer at first. "Of course not. I man up to my decision to be here."

Missing home... That wasn't exactly it. What he missed was something a lot more specific and selfish than that...

"What does all this have to do with this theory of yours anyway?" He turned back around to see that Tohma had already closed his eyes and was in position for sleeping.

Another silence ensued. "Sorry... It might be a bit long... I'm a little too tired to explain right now."

Masaru paused for a moment, but then shrugged and nodded in understanding for no one to see. He went under the sheets with Tohma and turned the lights off.

"Tohma... Just for the record, I do know I need to go back to the real world someday, as you mentioned. It's just... a matter of when I'll be ready."

"That's fine... I'll be there when you're ready."

Hmm...? That wasn't what Tohma said before when he had asked if Tohma wanted him to come back on the first day.

He said Tohma's name again, but no response came. Seemed he was already asleep.

Masaru wondered if the blond was even awake when he had answered, or if that was just sleep talk.

Because if that wasn't just sleep talk, Tohma's words were getting his hopes up...


	5. Day 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's an actual music list to the thing mentioned in this chapter, but up to ya'll if you want to hear it, just through easy searches on YTube.~

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

DAY 4

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Masaru had a dream over the night. Or a nightmare, moresay.

A dream of being back in the real world, as if he had never decided to live in the Digital World in the first place. As if he had let Agumon go to the Digital World without him.

Although Agumon was no longer in the Daimon household, his father was. These were the days of enjoying his mother's fried eggs, learning to live with his father again, going to school, and catching up with his classes.

The reason he picked fights all the time was to gain strength to protect his family while his father was gone, to gain strength to chase after his father wherever he may have gone. Now that his father was home safe and sound, he didn't have to pick fights anymore; he could focus on other things. If Agumon was going to focus his efforts on the Digital World, Masaru was going to focus on the real world. 

Each morning at breakfast, he'd chat it up with his father, who kept himself busy with reading the morning newspaper. They'd talk about the news, they'd talk about Masaru's plans for the day, they'd talk about the fun discoveries his father would make at work.

That was how this dream worked... And that was how the mornings of this dream worked... until this one.

This morning in the dream, his father had a different kind of smile on him. Instead of having the newspaper on the breakfast table, a large backpack was there. His father was getting ready to leave again.

When his father left when he was child, he hadn't understood how long his father would actually be gone for. But this time, Masaru fully understood the meaning of what his father was doing. He tried to convince his father to not go, pleading with him, tugging at him and overall making a huge scene in the Daimon residence. His mother and Chika were there, but they had already accepted that Suguru was leaving. 

Finally, he pulled out his fist against his own father. This time, it was truly just his father, not a possessed body of him, or a Digimon container for his soul... It was 100% solely his father, in the flesh. Well, in the flesh of a dream.

But nothing worked. Suguru took the face punch emotionlessly, like nothing had happened, and he disappeared from sight before Masaru could do anything else.

He was left to protect the family on his own again. And once again, his punch had done nothing to change the situation.

Masaru woke up with a jolt, his eyes widening to the hotel room's ceiling. He remembered the dream vividly... too vividly for his own taste. He wanted to dismiss it entirely at first; he remembered his mother making his father promise that he would never leave her again, on that hill after they had just defeated Yggdrasil. His father would never break a promise like that. There was no recollection of that promise within the dream. It was obviously some warped, alternative setting... that just happened to be something that could've been a reality, had things gone slightly different in the past.

That was just how some dreams go... He'd have occasional dreams about the human world, ranging from other nightmarish dreams about taking extra exams for school, to wilder dreams like becoming a nation-wide famous banchou who'd be featured on TV regularly.

But then once in a while, he'd get these other hard-hitting dreams that left him feeling a certain emptiness when he woke up. The detail in these particular dreams were so memorable since they always took place inside his home or other places he frequented in the real world.

They would only come up after he visited Digicon Valley... And he knew why.

...Occasionally, some of those dreams would be about Tohma.

Maybe it was his chance to do something about it, this time...

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Masaru went with Tohma that morning to check on the sample appearance, but once again, it didn't show up.

The brunet checked the date on his Digivice. Tohma had three more mornings to check... three more chances.

Their walk back to the hotel was in total silence, except when Piyomon showed up near the entrance to let them know that Flamon had already left the city (carrying Strabimon, who had yet to wake up but was snoozing peacefully), and they were doing fine. Tohma thanked him for the news. 

Back in their room, Tohma went for a change of clothes as he pressed a few buttons on his Digivice switching out his vest, tie, and shirt for a simple near black shirt. The look brought in a whole batch of memories to Masaru when he saw it... All the way back to his first ride in Tohma's limousine, back when they weren't getting along in the slightest. Oh, how things had changed since then...

Now, seeing him in another familiar look, but nearly four years later and having gotten taller...

Masaru had to force himself away from staring too long. He figured he could try to mix things up too, since they were heading out to a concert later and all. Not that it really mattered, since they'd be surrounded by Digimon who mostly didn't care about human fashion. But hey, if Tohma was going for something different, he might as well take the opportunity... He swapped out his usual vest jacket and tank top for a black blazer shirt jacket with zippers on the pockets. He rarely wore it since he just preferred the extra freedom he had to swing his arms when he was wearing a tank top, but today, for once in a long time, he wasn't looking for any fights...

This was practically a full day-long date, any way he looked at it. And he wouldn't be this conscious about it with any other person other than Tohma...

It was still a shame to him to not have the boxing center around, since he knew Tohma enjoyed a good spar just as much as he did. 

Fighting was always fun and all for Masaru, but he did know how to enjoy life plenty without having to use his fists all the time. After the incident the day before with Strabimon, maybe he needed the time off from thinking about fights for once...

...And do what he could while Tohma was still there, take opportunities where they came. It was a chance to find out more about Tohma while they had a good time... and wasn't that the point?

.....

Masaru asked if Tohma would be able to come back to the Digital World soon again after the week was over.

"It took a lot of time and getting through red tape to get this trip approved. I'd need to produce exceedingly significant results before I could possibly get approval for another trip."

"You've come here without approval before, why let that stop you now?" Masaru replied, thinking about the time Tohma Dived to go after Drimogemon in their early DATS days.

"That was a long time ago... I don't have DATS to cover for my mistakes anymore, Masaru. Breaking such protocol at this point in life would actually put me behind bars."

"Oh boy..."

"What, you miss me already? But I'm still here for a few more days," Tohma spoke as if trying to tease the fighter before they headed out for the day. He and Gaomon disappeared from their room into the hotel hallway, letting Masaru close up.

A few days... Three days would fly by in a flash. And then not knowing when they'd next get to see each other... When he had so much he needed to know, and so much he needed to be let known still...

He really did already miss Tohma.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

SOMETHING needed to happen. He needed to bring up the courage to let Tohma know his feelings without sounding like a total trainwreck coming in too many years after the fact. His fist had been the stopping point between them for long enough, but...

Relationships were hard to figure out when they involved things beyond his fist.

Outside the hotel, Tohma requested that they head back to the tech hardware shops. No sooner after showing up on the block, Tohma disappeared into the array of flashy signs and techno gadgets.

Masaru stood around at the outside of the stalls, not finding the interest to head in after the blond. Gaomon was about to go in when Masaru stopped him. Getting a chance to talk alone with Tohma's Digimon was just what he might've wanted...

"So how's it been hanging with Tohma these past couple days?" he spoke up, trying to sound casual. As casual as he could get with a Digimon he'd almost never talked to, yet spent a lot of time around... "I'm kind of surprised you still call him Master, to be honest..."

"He will always be my one and only Master."

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to let me know how this Master-calling biz came to be in the first place?"

Gaomon remained silent. Masaru quietly laughed to himself.

"I'll take that as a no..."

"Master can tell you our story if he wishes to. I don't feel that it's appropriate to hear it from me."

Oh... so the dog COULD talk beyond basic responses.

"Huh? What makes you say that? What's the difference?"

"I can tell you that it's a very personal story for him. So if you're willing to accept him to that extent, I'm sure he'll tell you about it."

"Uh..."

"There is a lot you don't know about Master still, even though Master knows so much about you."

"Well, that's probably 'cause he read up on my DATS profile and went through all that stuff with my family... my dad and Yggdrasil and all that..."

"Master has been through a lot, too. He just tries not to trouble other people about it."

Masaru took a moment to pause. Gaomon was right; Masaru barely knew anything about Tohma besides his passions for certain things, like his research, boxing...

He didn't expect Gaomon to give him such a mouthful (relative to his usual silence), but he was honestly grateful for it. He had to take the opportunity for everything it was worth.

"But hey... who's to say I'm not willing to get to know him more?"

"Mm?"

"You're right, there's a lot about him that I don't know about... I only know that he's worked his ass off all these years looking for a cure for his sister, and that's why he's here in the first place. I'm just the third wheel here in his world, and he'd still be a fine and dandy genius out here even if he hadn't come across me this week. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"That's not true. Master thinks you may play a crucial role in finding this sample."

"What? First time I've heard about that..."

"Only Master knows the details regarding that. You would need to ask him about that as well..."

"There's a lot I need to ask him, apparently."

Gaomon finally looked up at Masaru after keeping his eyes off for their entire conversation (he'd been looking in Tohma's general direction like a watchdog, even though Tohma was nowhere to be seen), then he nodded simply. "Please do. I hope to see Master go back to the human world having completed his mission successfully. So that he can move towards his future missions."

"Future missions..."

Gaomon suddenly tensed up. "He does have goals for once Relena-sama is cured, after all. Master isn't going to stop there by any means."

"Of course. He'll be able to focus more on the Digital World afterwards, won't he? And then he'll have more opportunities to see you. Doesn't that make you happy, Gaomon?"

"Yes, it does," the canine wagged his tail for a bit, but soon after admonished himself. "Oh no, there's much more to it than that... You must never underestimate Master. Again... This should be discussed with him."

Tohma appeared from the store stall at that moment, just in time to give Gaomon relief from their conversation.

So Masaru played a 'crucial role' in Tohma's reason for being there this week, huh? But their meeting in the Digital World seemed to be by pure chance. How would that have worked out if they had never met up? Tohma wasn't telling him something...

"Oi, Tohma."

"Do you think we could find a spot where I could sit down at a table with some space? I need to do a bit of soldering for this upgrade, and I just picked up the tools to do it."

"Uh..." Tohma's wide and activated eyes, funneling in Masaru's view, threw the brunet off track temporarily. "I think we'd have to go back to the hotel for that. We're not that far out from it anyway."

"Right."

As they walked back to the hotel, Masaru brought up the subject without further ado.

"So Gaomon mentioned that I play some 'crucial role' in finding the cure for your sister... Relena was her name? What did he mean by that?"

"Oh, that... Well, you're doing it right now, aren't you? You're guiding me through these parts of the Digital World I haven't been to."

"But Gaomon could've done that all the same."

"No, actually, he couldn't... not in the way you have. He's plenty capable of many things, but he's not you."

Masaru felt a faint blush creep over his cheeks, and he turned his head away to avoid Tohma's sight.

Wait, did that actually answer the question? Masaru was still left a little confused...

But Tohma looked to be preoccupied with whatever he was doing with the techno-gadgets he just got, so maybe Masaru could bring it up later... when he figured out what he really wanted to ask in the first place...

Masaru took a deep breath, letting Tohma focus on his little task. They had a long day ahead of them with the intent of enjoying themselves, and maybe it was best to just stick to that intention.

First and foremost, this was for Tohma, after all...

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

After a late lunch at one of the restaurant buildings near the plaza, it was already time to head to the concert venue. Masaru beckoned Tohma to come look outside the fourth floor window at the restaurant hallway.

Although the concert wouldn't start for another hour, hoards of Digimon were already crowding up all the way from the central plaza to the stadium area that was located in the area dedicated for the largest Digimon near a half kilometer away. Some of the shop stalls had moved into the area for the day too, at least the ones selling idol paraphernalia. Digimon from all stretches of the land and seas had gathered to see their favorite artists perform later that evening.

"What... it didn't look this crowded when we went in to eat," Tohma gaped slightly at the sight.

"Well, you took your sweet time ordering almost every little thing, so there was plenty of time for all these guys to show up. Hmm, gotta figure out a way to get in a good spot, or we won't get a good view at the concert..." Masaru opened the window while Tohma looked at him wondering if that was okay to do in the first place.

"You're the one who suggested going here despite knowing that they use a sampling system. There were a lot of choices to make, and I haven't had a meal that works like that before..."

"You've really never had dim sum before?"

"That's what I told you from the start, didn't I?"

"I thought you meant like Digimon-style dim sum..."

"I haven't really had Digimon-style ANY food before coming here this week, Masaru. The fruit feast we had at ElDoradimon is the only instance I can think of. When it comes to dim sum, I never had it even back in the human world."

"Ah... Uhuh, right. You really don't get out much even in the human world, do you. Stuck in nobleman land and all, but keeping busy..."

"I've been too busy for a lot of things..."

Masaru leaned farther out of the window and perused the sights of the Digimon crowds down below, making a small smile to himself.

"All the more reason for me to show you there too, someday," he said quietly. It came out of his mouth before he could stop to think about it. Flickering visions of exploring the human world with Tohma went through his mind, and he started feeling a rush of adrenaline in his chest.

"What was that?" Tohma didn't hear him, as the fighter's voice had blended in with the crowds outside.

Masaru didn't repeat himself, however. Instead, he brought his shoes up onto the windowsill and told Tohma to jump after him. And then he jumped straight out of the window.

"Eehh?"

Tohma leaned over the window to see what in the world Masaru was up to and found that he hadn't gone far; he was on the back of a massive long-neck dinosaur Digimon called Brachimon. The Brachimon had a saddle of some sort on its back, providing just enough space for Tohma and Gaomon to join.

"This isn't someone else's seat?" Tohma said when he and Gaomon landed on the saddle.

"This guy says it's fine! VIP treatment, remember?"

"Sure..."

"Yep, it's definitely concert day," Masaru said, taking a deep breath as he looked out from their vantage point on the back of the Brachimon.

"I've never seen so many Digimon in one area..." Tohma said with awe as he took a full look at their surroundings. 

"This has to be the umpteenth time you've come across a new sight on this trip, huh."

A giant red frog-like Digimon towered over a plethora of small Digimon surrounding him as he bellowed a tune. It was TonosamaGekomon and a parade of Gekomon, doing a little pre-show for the crowds as they waited around.

"You'd think I'd be used to this by now... but I just didn't expect to see anything like this my whole week here. It's like I'm back in Japan, out in the city, except everyone here is a Digimon..."

"Back in Japan..."

The crowd suddenly started moving, indicating that the concert venue was open and Digimon were trickling their way in to secure 'seating'. Seating, more like a freestyle find-a-spot... Despite that, the hoards of Digimon managed to head in peacefully. Everyone just wanted to have a good time at the concert, after all...

The entire concert area was larger than any stadium found in the human world, carved as a massively wide crater in the ground. The stage was placed at the center of the crater, large enough that even the farthest ring of the crater could see the digital keyboards that were already set up. 

Their Brachimon took a spot next to several other Brachimon with similar saddles on their backs and other Digimon riding them. The riding Digimon waved at them, and the humans waved back. A bunch of even larger Digimon took the spots behind them, while smaller Digimon went in front. Although there were no specific markings or rules for height relative to seating, the Digimon were naturally taking seats appropriate for their size in consideration for others.

"So... any different from the concerts you remember?" Masaru asked.

"Well, classical music concerts are generally indoor and don't require any speakers to amplify the sound like they do here," Tohma noted the speakers dotted all around the venue.

"Ah right. Those are the ones where everyone gets all quiet and then falls asleep until the end, huh. I think I saw Mom and Chika try to watch one on TV once and that's what happened with them, at least..."

"If you're familiar with the music, it's a lot easier to stay awake."

"Is that so... Well, I'll admit some of the stuff they play here is practically meant to put people to sleep, too. I mean, if you're tired enough..."

"I got plenty of good sleep last night, thank you very much."

"Mm, well at least ONE of us got good sleep..." Masaru's mind wandered over to the dream he had last night, but he managed to push the thought out as he saw a familiar face move up in front of them...

"Drimogemon!"

The giant mole with a drill for a nose turned around at the sound of his name. "Oh, if it isn't Masaru. Top of the evening to you lads. So nice to see you at one of these concerts. It's always so hard to find a familiar face!"

The usual introductions were done among Tohma, Gaomon, and Drimogemon. 

"This is Tohma's first concert here, and it's been a long time for me... anything in particular changed up in the way they do these?" Masaru asked casually.

"Changed up? Hmm... I guess the types of music have really changed recently. There's a lot of variety compared to when I first started going to these. Some of these are real bangers, especially when they crank things up in the second half!"

"Bangers..." Tohma repeated.

"You know, rocking it out to the good beats! And beats are great, but my favorite is still our OG, Lilamon..."

"You too, huh..."

"You too, Masaru?!" Drimogemon's eyes lit up.

"Oh, I mean there was another Digimon I met yesterday who was a fan of Lilamon," Masaru explained.

"What? You're not a fan of hers?" Drimogemon said with a bit of disappointment.

"Uh... I like her singing, sure..." Lilamon's singing was indeed really nice, it just wasn't really in any deeper interest... If anything, Lilamon's singing reminded him of the corny serenades Yoshino would listen to, and thus also reminded him of that car ride from long ago... "All the performers here are like my followers. And I don't pick favorites amongst my followers!"

Tohma had to roll his eyes a bit while Masaru did a guts pose. Drimogemon shrugged and turned around to eat the snack he had brought in. "Suit yourself."

"Well? Does he seem like the Drimogemon you're familiar with?" Masaru quietly asked the blond.

"He's completely different, so I can't imagine he is..." Tohma replied. "But this is the one who saved your life, huh."

"Kinda yeah, pretty much. He sure helped out a lot, at least."

Tohma looked in Masaru's direction, towards his chest area. Masaru clutched his father's dog tag as he put a fist over his chest, getting a little subconscious over the stare. 

"So speaking of that Lilamon fan, here's a little game while we wait..." Masaru said with a glint in his eye. "Can you find Tropiamon in this crowd? He's pretty big and a pretty unique-looking fella, so it shouldn't be THAT hard, right?"

"Hmmmm..."

Searching for Tropiamon kept them occupied for a fair amount of time, even when the Digimon were seated by size to narrow down the approximate vicinity where he could be. Eventually, it was Gaomon who found him first, actually not too far away from where they were seated.

The sound of some kind of low drumming could be heard from the speakers. Soon, a humming followed, but the crowds were still murmuring with plenty of noise astir. As the drumming and humming developed into full-on singing, the crowds gradually started quieting down.

A few moments later, a small swarm of Yanmamon swooped in with various smaller Digimon on their backs, revealing themselves as the creators of the sounds coming out of the speakers. Some were beatboxing, some were singing as an acapella...

They landed on the stage and continued their music. The concert had just begun.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

An intermission occurred as the sun started to disappear into the horizon, with the Yanmamon singers going around telling everyone that they'd start back up in a half hour. Many Digimon got up to head straight for the food stands waiting for their patronage on the outer edge of the crater. The Digimon on the other Brachimon saddles offered to get food for the Brachimon so that they could hold their place.

"I'd never thought of the idea of singing THAT piece in acapella, but that was really impressive..." Tohma said to himself in awe as he got up for an arm stretch. "There's a lot of vocal talent here."

"They've sure stepped up their game, yeah..." Masaru agreed. "We should go for a walk outside the crater. You want anything from the food stands?"

"I'm still plenty full from the dim sum..."

"You sure? We've still got a lot of time here left for the concert. They'll probably play a few more of these chiller pieces before they get into the REAL party."

"I'm fine, really..."

"All right then, I'll pass too."

They still took a break, hopping off of the saddle from Brachimon's back and walking around the area. Tohma and Gaomon followed Masaru as he swiftly meandered through the various groups of Digimon, with the goal of simply heading to the outer ring of the crater. 

Masaru felt a surge of old memories run through him as he watched Tohma and Gaomon catch up behind him. It was almost like he was a little kid again, leading his small pack of friends he'd just met at a playground on a random day, urging them to follow as he went through obstacle courses... which was a strange way to put it, when he really thought of it. He knew Tohma pretty well, compared to any of his other classmates and friends back in the human world at least. He was definitely no random kid like the ones in his memories. 

Yet sometimes, it still felt like Tohma was the stranger on the other side of the seesaw... He connected with him on mutual matters easily enough, but...

He knew the blond well... but how much did he actually know?

His conversation with Gaomon came back to him.

'There is a lot you don't know about Master still, even though Master knows so much about you.'

Even if he wanted to know more... how was he supposed to go about doing that?

A stream of what looked like a couple dozen Gazimon, filed in line, suddenly interrupted the path between Masaru and Tohma. With the crowds surrounding them, they could only wait for the Gazimon to pass by. When the Gazimon finally cleared, next came a line of Pandamon. After the Pandamon, coming up were some giant Allomon (probably off to mingle with some guys in the front temporarily)...

Tohma hesitated to cross as the Allomon approached, so Masaru grabbed the blond's hand and pulled him along. The large, rex-like Digimon stomped along right behind them, but they moved on. And Masaru took the opportunity to hold Tohma's hand until they got out of the crater.

He didn't look back to see how Tohma reacted. The genius could take it however way he wanted...

Or at least that was what Masaru kept telling himself. He was curious as heck to know, honestly... Was Tohma's heart racing like his, with just this basic gesture of... presence? 

He did let go once they reached the end of the crater, at last getting enough space to stretch out his legs without bumping into another Digimon. Many were still lined up at the food stands, though the lines were going blazingly fast. A half hour would fly by in an instant around these parts, after all.

They didn't get to hang around long, since it took them nearly half the break time just to get outside the massive crater. After their quick break, they made their way back, climbing back onto their Brachimon who was chomping away at a giant taco of sorts.

The intermission was only supposed to be for a half hour, but considering that most Digimon weren't back from the food stalls yet, and they needed time to eat and... do their business... of course the music hadn't started after the thirty minutes were up.

The sun had completely set by then, and the lights atop of the speakers lit up the entire crater. After a few more minutes, the lighting dimmed dramatically, with most lights going almost completely out, save for a few essential ones at the center stage. The setting change indicated that the concert was about to start up again soon.

Masaru looked over as Tohma watched all the Digimon near them hurrying back to their seats. The atmosphere of the entire venue had transformed instantly with the dimming of the lights. They'd gone from seeing huge crowds all around them, even being able to point out the Tropiamon who was perhaps a couple hundred feet away from them, to barely even being able to see the Drimogemon in front of Brachimon. Thanks to the lighting coming only from center stage, all the Digimon around them appeared as silhouettes.

At least Masaru could still clearly see Tohma sitting right next to him, even under the dark skies.

Partial spotlights turned on above the speakers all around them, spinning around the crowds, passing by them to and fro. The movement of the lighting was almost a little frantic if one paid close attention to it, but that just made the effects within the venue all that more astounding to witness.

"I'm still just amazed at how much the Digital World has developed since the last time I was here," Tohma commented as fog slowly covered the center stage. "It took humans thousands of years to get to our present state, yet because of how the Digital World works, this city is comparably almost caught up in just a few years. It's not just a matter of having the technology... It's way more important that that technology is utilized efficiently to show results, and THIS is a definite result."

"Yup, huge props to the Digimon."

"And to you too, Masaru. It's still strange of you to not take credit where you've earned it. Like it or not, you are the Messiah here."

Masaru remembered the conversation he'd had before in the hotel room, when Tohma had used that word.

"You're saying that again..."

"Because I truly mean it. I wonder if you remember the vices I held against you on ElDoradimon, back when everyone was doting on you for being the savior's son."

Masaru didn't respond at first. Looking back on those times weren't the greatest by any means. Nowadays, he knew how conceited he had been by using the credit of his father's deeds to further his own vendetta against Kurata. The experiences he had gained through everything that had happened back then definitely affected him to the very day.

"Things are different now..."

"Exactly. They're different. You helped make this all happen. You gave these Digimon a place to belong, a place to thrive. You've done an amazing thing here, Masaru. Truly amazing, and I'm glad you brought me here for this. This is a night I'll remember forever." 

Tohma gave Masaru one of his classic 'feeling smug with you' smiles, except under the illumination of the concert area at night, his entire appearance hit Masaru's senses at full power.

It was as if a huge clearing had passed through Masaru's mind, cleaning out all negative thoughts of regret and despair, and instead replacing those thoughts with the comfort of appreciation and acceptance. Tohma's appreciation and acceptance.

The music started up again, but it suddenly sounded far in the distance for the brunet even as Tohma turned to face the performers making their entrance. All Masaru could actually pay attention to was the man in front of him.

He had to wonder if this was how it felt to have his heart skip a beat.

He also had to recall that the first time he had become this conscious of Tohma, he was under a similar amount of lighting. The dark cover of the night over his face, illuminated repeatedly by the constantly rotating beams of light. Only this time, Tohma was well awake, smiling so beautifully... And just within arm's reach...

Masaru wouldn't forget this night either.

If Tohma were to smile like that every time someone showed him something special, Masaru wanted to be the reason for that smile. Masaru wanted to be the one to see so many of Tohma's expressions...

Oh man, he thought. He just wanted so much from Tohma...

Tohma suddenly turned back to face him, and Masaru just then realized he'd been staring at the blond for the past few straight minutes. Tohma's lips opened and gradually switched off the smile to a look of confusion.

Shoot... did Tohma just catch him staring? What kind of face was he making just now?

Masaru veered his head towards the music stage, essentially pretending that nothing had happened. Yes, it was just your imagination, Tohma...

For now. He needed to lift this off his shoulders soon...

Aside from the sample he was looking for, Tohma seemed to have everything sorted out and planned, as he always did. And it was on Masaru to know about it if he was willing.

Yes, he was definitely willing. It was only getting harder and harder to not just spill out every thought that was going through his mind. He'd tried it once the day before, only for things to come out awkwardly... but he couldn't let that happen that way again.

Tonight... He'd ask the things on his mind when they would be alone.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Back in their hotel room after the concert and a late night snack (simply from their Digivices since all the food venues had closed up for the night), Masaru sat up on the bed while Tohma tapped along his DigiWindow next to him. Gaomon had already gone to sleep in Tohma's Digivice. 

Tohma clicked his tongue a couple times and adjusted his glasses. The leftover buzz from the concert venue had taken a while to leave his system, and because of that, the two humans couldn't hold much of a conversation on their way back to the hotel.

Which was fine, because Masaru had a lot to sort through on his mind anyway...

Ugh, it was so hard to sort through, though. He ended up staring at the ceiling for a long while, with his thought process not really landing anywhere...

"My sense of hearing is finally back to normal, I think..." Tohma said as he rubbed his temple.

"Same here..." In the end, Masaru started off on a normal topic. "So what'd you think of the concert?"

"Hmm... I actually recognized all of the music during the first half, although nothing was played in its full or original form. They're all very well known pieces in the orchestral world."

"Oh really."

"Not saying that that's a bad thing by any means; on the contrary, every piece felt unique and held my interest quite deeply. Saying that, most were a mix of famous classical tunes filtered through the instruments Digimon have available and were able to play or sing along to. I even noted down the concert order for that first half here..."

He brought up a certain screen on his DigiWindow and got on the bed to show it to Masaru.

"What... You wrote down every piece they played?" Masaru blinked hard at the list on the screen.

"In classical music concerts, you get a program pamphlet detailing every piece that will be played in the concert, sometimes with some background information or the like. I'm surprised there wasn't one for this, considering the large mix of music involved."

"I guess they prefer keeping things a surprise."

"True, there's a different element of enjoyment when you don't know what's coming up next... But I wanted a personal record of it."

Masaru read through the list on the DigiWindow.

'Ravel's Bolero, Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No.3, Pachelbel's Canon in D, Smetana's The Moldau, Holst's Planets Suite, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, ending with highlights from each Movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony No.9'... Of course, Masaru didn't know any of these.

"Ever the analytical one..." Masaru said, having blanked out early while reading the list. "It all sounded nice enough to me, and that's all I care about."

"You really ought to give the originals a listen sometime," Tohma said as he pulled his DigiWindow onto his lap, tapping on it some more as he sat back on the bed.

"Sure, if the opportunity arises... Well, which one was your favorite?"

"I'm not sure if I'd say it was my favorite, but the one with the most lasting impression on me was definitely the opening piece, the Bolero. It started off quiet, before everyone in the audience knew it was happening... So by the time everyone noticed, it was already on a new cadence..."

"Ah yeah, that left a pretty big impression on me too. It's probably the only piece in the first half I can still remember the tune for right now."

"A new cadence..."

"...Huh?"

"A repeat. You remember how it repeated the same melody over and over, but it was slightly different every time? That's just how it's supposed to be."

"I see..."

After another considerable pause, Tohma went further into his thoughts. "Lilamon's solos surprised me. I thought she'd only be singing serenades and lullabies. But she can sing opera too! She definitely went beyond what I ever imagined."

"Heh yeah. That's probably another reason why she has a lot of fans... Aside from all the singing and dancing she did in the second half too."

"Yes, I'm sure it takes a lot of work to exert yourself that much..."

The second half of the concert that happened not long after the intermission, after such a mellow first half, pumped adrenaline into the crowds instantly. All the special stage effects and bass speakers kicked into the max, and the entire venue quaked in excitement for hours into the night. Lilamon really shined in those hours, singing song after song with the occasional guest backing her up. Although there were many other musical guests in the show, it was still rather obvious that she was the token star of the night.

Tohma closed up the DigiWindow and removed his glasses, setting them down at the bedside table with a satisfied look on his eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the concert, from the sound of it."

"Absolutely. I rarely get the time to go to special events like this for fun even in the real world, so this was quite the treat." Tohma paused for a moment, as if contemplating a certain thought. "It'd be nice if I could return the favor back at home some day."

"You mean back in Japan..."

"Of course. Or overseas, even."

"Hah..." Masaru blinked a few times at the sudden thought of going overseas... It was something he hadn't done yet in either world. The southern islands in the Digital World came to mind, as it was on his bucket list... "Either way, that involves me going back. You just keep up the smooth talk, and maybe I'll just give in someday."

"Masaru..." Tohma gave him an unsettled stare. "As far as I'm concerned, you've done plenty for the Digital World to warrant coming home at least once."

There it was again, the ask for Masaru to come back to the human world. The thing though... was Tohma asking him as a coworker to his father, as a friend and old comrade, or as something more...

"Not like you'll be able to bring me back at the end of the week with you anyway, right."

"No, the approved buffer I'm able to use can only handle trading myself and Agumon. After that, it'll be some time before I can get approval to open the gate again for you to come back. I plan to have Relena cured by then-"

"Does it matter that much to you? When I asked before if you wanted me to come back, you said it was all up to me and that it had nothing to do with you."

During Tohma's first night back in the Digital World, at their bonfire... Tohma's callous face when he had said those remarks was still ingrained in his mind.

Yet... Tohma seemed fine hanging out with him for these past few days, even with trouble following wherever he went...

"It was a bit cold of me to say that, now that I think of it... Having you come back to the human world eventually was always part of my plans in the long term."

"Your plans, huh... So you're saying I'm involved now?"

"To put it simply, yes. You always were."

Always, huh...

"After all these years, I would've thought maybe you'd have your sights set on something else by now... I mean, after you've finished with what you'll be doing with this sample thing you're looking for."

Masaru had to look away from Tohma's piercing gaze for a bit. He'd been wanting to ask since Gaomon brought it up... What this something else was after curing Relena... What this something else was beyond their mutual goal to bring harmony to both worlds.

"I do have my sights set on something... someONE."

That caught Masaru's attention.

"Because after this... Once Relena's cured, after all these years..."

Tohma fell silent, and Masaru gave in to turn around again and face the blond. They kept their eyes on each other.

"..." Masaru nearly held his breath waiting for Tohma's next words.

"I can focus on our goal. The goal you've already been focusing on here while I've been gone."

Masaru felt his stomach hollow out a bit... He knew that already, but something was still stirring in him...

"Peace between humans and Digimon," Tohma repeated the goal.

Yes, he knew that already too. Masaru knew that would never change with Tohma... he already had that kind of faith in him.

That wasn't what he was looking to hear.

"...and you, still here in the Digital World."

Yes, he knew that already too now. He wasn't coming back anytime soon, and Tohma knew he was hesitating.

"I'm coming for you next, Masaru. I'm not letting you get away next time, just so you know."

Hesitating...

Wait, what?

Tohma... still...

He refocused his gaze on Tohma's eyes. Those eyes, unwavering... were looking back only at him...

A moment of silence fell at the realization. Masaru was trying to figure out all this time when and how to bring up his connection to Tohma, and here Tohma was just doing it for him, just like that. Just like how he did before he left for the Digital World years ago...

But this time, Masaru wasn't the one leaving. Tohma would be the one to leave soon... Just not tonight.

Masaru had to say something. "I'm right here though. Right in front of you, right now."

"I'm well aware."

"And yet..."

"Maybe you've forgotten what happened the last time I tried to make a move on you."

Masaru made a small flinch. "You mean in your sleep?"

Tohma gave him a dubious look. "What?"

"I-I mean... Before I left for the Digital World..."

"Yeah... But what's this about me in my sleep?"

"Uh..." Masaru hung his mouth open. That completely oblivious genius...

"Masaru..." Tohma sounded off like he didn't want his patience tested on the matter.

"Fine, that was my own fault, okay? All of it... I really... didn't mind it..." Masaru backed up from Tohma on the bed and held his head in his hands for a moment. "In fact, right now, I..."

Tohma still didn't say anything, instead continuing to watch Masaru struggle with himself.

"Oh geez, I can't believe after all this time, you're still okay with someone like me. Especially after I pretty much... ran out on you way back then."

"...Yet you're here right now, next to me on the same bed."

Masaru felt lightheaded as he let his arms fall back to his sides. But now, he had a clearer view of Tohma on the bed, illuminated by the lamp on the bedside table behind him in the otherwise dark room.

He'd stared at the blond so many times before like this without doing anything about it, but not this time.

"Yeah, and I'd be a fool not to make something out of it at this point..."

For now, they were both there, with nothing to interrupt them. For now, Masaru could only see Tohma there with him, there... for him.

Masaru leaned forward on the bed and laid a hand on Tohma's shoulder. After a heavy but fleeting moment of eye contact, he moved in and planted his lips on the other.

It was only for a brief second or two. Afterwards, he left his hand on Tohma's shoulder but backed up completely, in a bit of shock with himself.

Tohma looked just as surprised. The surprise wore off a few seconds later, replaced by a deep uncertainty.

"Masaru, you... You're not just trying to pity me or something, are you?"

Masaru tightened his grip on Tohma's shoulder by reflex.

"No way. You know I wouldn't do that with you. I've been wanting to do that for way longer than you'd probably ever believe."

"Oh, really..."

The fighter slowly leaned forward, gradually resting himself in front of Tohma's face. A small warmth radiated from them as Masaru looked at the blond straight in the eyes. "Yes, really. I'd swear on everything that makes me a man."

Tohma's expression of uncertainty dissolved away, leaving only the longing look Masaru remembered seeing many years ago, before leaving for the Digital World. It was back as he hoped, unchanged aside from the years past. In those beautiful pale blue eyes...

'Ah... I really have been wanting this for so long...'

This time, he wasn't preoccupied with leaving. This time, he was there to stay.

Their lips met again. And again, and again. After more than three years since the first kiss, he could finally return the motion.

So much time had passed, yet suddenly it was like he was taken back to that day in the locker room, receiving Tohma's feelings for him in full force. Only that part--Tohma's feelings--remained the same, but that was all that mattered.

As they fell onto the mattress below them, the hotel bed was no longer a place of tense and uncertain repose, but a place where their passion for each other would come to fruition...


	6. Day 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan to put up the remaining two chapters before the end of the month, or possibly right on Masaru's birthday if all goes well. 
> 
> I mentioned in 'Connect' that I didn't plan for this to reach 50k... but it went a bit past 50k in the end, so please look forward to it? And there's still more to be done... Mainly the doujinshi portion that this fic originally was. Lol. Let's see how much I can put out for Masaru's birthday :')

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

DAY 5

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"I thought I made a mistake when I kissed you three years ago."

Tohma would say that while kissing Masaru over and over first thing in the morning. It was like a certain beast inside him had been set loose since the previous night, after finally knowing that Masaru returned his feelings.

Even though it was Masaru who was unsure of TOHMA's feelings... It went both ways, as silly as it had to be.

"I knew back then you weren't the type to think about being with someone like this, so I thought that it was the only way to get my point across..."

Masaru held Tohma's face in his palms, mostly to just get him to stop kissing so that he could get some space to talk. "But do you actually regret it now?"

"Not with you here like this, of course not..." Tohma took Masaru's palms and held them between their bodies, reveling in the warmth radiating between them and the blanket covering them under the cold morning. "Still, I was immature and not thinking things through. I thought I had matured far beyond my age already back then... but no, I still had a lot to learn. And I still do. That much, I'm well aware of now, after coming here this week."

Masaru thought of his own remorse when he hastily left Tohma in the locker room years ago... Brash decisions were made abound in all his younger days, and only just recently he had finally started taking deeper mental notes of the impact his choices had on the world around him in the long run. Those realizations slowly started with his run-in against HippoGryphomon, became clearer after Digicon Valley's founding, and they were fueled to nearly excess speed with Tohma's arrival...

"We both do..." Masaru said in agreement.

He listened on as Tohma went through a ramble. "Until last night, my decision about everything was just to put up with it all until my goals were realized. I'm used to putting up with so much already... all these years while researching for my sister, going through failure after failure of potential solutions... Putting up with some more years for a chance to bring our worlds together in peace was just another wait. And only after then would I feel ready to go after you again and hope for anything in return. Until then... I was fine thinking this was all one-sided. I'd been fine with it..."

Tohma pulled Masaru in for a squeeze, to which Masaru couldn't help but make an almost comical deflating sound. The fighter backed up from Tohma to put some seriousness back into the atmosphere.

"Hey... back then, I was more upset... that you chose THAT MOMENT to bring up your feelings. Like it had to be something that drastic before you'd ever do anything. I mean, I know I didn't do anything either, but honestly, I probably didn't like you as much as you liked me back then."

Tohma looked a little hurt, but acknowledging the reality, he nodded solemnly.

Masaru continued. "Back then, all I was thinking about was going to the Digital World so that I could keep fighting..."

It was super embarrassing for Masaru to admit, and probably for Tohma to hear, but he needed to get it off his chest.

And the next statement was even more embarrassing to admit...

"But as the years went by, those feelings changed, even though you weren't around. I've... missed you."

"Masaru..."

They exchanged looks with each other, Tohma unabashed while Masaru was flushed red as heck.

"I used to come here to Digicon Valley a lot more often, especially when it was starting out. Multiple times a week, even... But as things started becoming more advanced and human-like, I gradually stopped coming as often. Once a week, a couple times a month... once a month... over a whole year... Because every time I came here, I'd miss you. I'd miss you like crazy. I'd miss you so much I had to go days without end punching the lights out of roughhousing Digimon to get my mind off of you, so much that even Agumon would think I was overdoing it."

Masaru lifted himself up from the bed, sitting up to lay a hand on the blond who was still lying down. He still went on.

"So about it being one-sided... It obviously isn't. I still have a lot to learn too, just as much as you... I guess more with our schooling differences... You idiot genius."

"That's an oxymoron..."

"Oh, cut it out. What I'm trying to say is... Your feelings aren't one-sided. They never had to be... It's just... my own damn fault that things ended up this way. I wasn't ready back then, but now... Now I can say that the punch I gave you before leaving is one of my biggest regrets."

After a long and thoughtful pause, Tohma took hold of one of Masaru's hands once again.

"I know you live by your fists, Masaru... But it hasn't always been the right way to go about things, has it."

"Definitely not..."

"It's a dark, dark memory... But I remember punching you when I was first pretending to join Kurata's side," the blond said, tightening his grip on Masaru's hand. "How could a fist possibly convey my entire plan to you without giving myself away to Kurata? Yet I still tried it, because it was the only way I thought I could get you to possibly understand back then. I never knew it would have such an adverse effect on you instead... It's a punch that I've regretted since, too..."

Masaru closed his eyes in a slight wince as he remembered ShineGreymon's fallen appearance, consumed by negative feelings of unkempt rage. Dark memories, indeed...

"Right again, Tohma. These hands can only do so much. Time and time again, I'll be willing to admit that. As long as we learn from it, we can move on from these regrets..." 

Masaru stretched his arms behind his back as far as he could extend them, crooning his neck side to side, and then started to get up. As he did so, he took a deep breath, feeling a general sense of relief, before turning towards the blond again.

"Think it's time to head out and check if the sample's shown up yet?"

"Sure... After this."

"...?"

Tohma pulled Masaru back down onto the bed. The brunet let out a small yelp right before his lips were occupied by the other man hesitating to leave.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

It wouldn't be until later in the afternoon when they finally went out to check for the sample.

Once again, nothing appeared at the designated point indicated in Tohma's DigiWindow. Masaru had to wonder by now if there was something defective with the very device Tohma used all the time.

"That's impossible. The reading indicates they're clearly here, they're just not showing themselves for whatever reason..." Tohma put away his DigiWindow and gave a small sigh. "I'm not so worried about it at this point, Masaru. Let's go."

"Haa? You've only got two more tries at this, don't you? Wasn't this the whole point of your trip?"

"On paper, it is..."

"On paper..."

"The red tape I had to go through to get here... On the papers justifying my reason for coming here, finding the sample was the only purpose listed. But there was always more to this trip. I thought you knew that by now."

"Sure, but still..."

"Again... I'm not too worried about it at this point. Especially after what happened these past few days. I came here at the start of the week with a mostly empty slate, and it's already been filled with so much..."

"Ehh?"

A lot of things had happened, sure... but what exactly did he mean? Telling Tohma his feelings? Going to the concert? The incident with Strabimon? Reconciling with HippoGryphomon? Why was any of that even connected to the sample?

The sample was for Tohma's sister, wasn't it? Everything else that happened during the week was just an offside, a way to make use of the time he had while he was stuck in the Digital World. Or in some cases, it was the danger and peril that seemed to accompany him wherever he went... He just didn't understand...

But even as he expressed these concerns to the blond who held his hand affectionately on their way back to the valley, the blond would only keep reassuring him that things would work out in the end.

"In two days' time, you'll be back with Agumon, and I'll be back in the real world prepping for the busy days ahead. But for now, let me enjoy the time I have left with you. That's the most I can ask."

It pained Masaru to hear the shade of sorrow in Tohma's tone, but Masaru had to agree for the most part. He just wanted to enjoy the time he had left with Tohma as well. At the same time, he just couldn't help but feel guilty about it somehow...

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Renamon and Piyomon were waiting for them in the hotel lobby when they made it back, requesting their presence for a special presentation in the plaza before a dinner celebration. They wanted to present Tohma with an award of some sort for his actions the other day when he helped Strabimon. 

Tohma wasn't too keen on going through the motions.

"I was only doing what I could since I was there for it..." Tohma reasoned as they all sat together in the lobby. "If I'd been more proactive about stopping them like Masaru was, maybe Strabimon wouldn't have gotten injured in the first place. Also, won't other Digimon find it strange anyway? That Strabimon was an exception by not turning back into a DigiEgg immediately. I don't know what his full circumstances were, but he wasn't your average Digimon. And he's not even in this city anymore..."

"You saw how the other Digimon applauded you the other day. They know you put in a lot of work to save one of us, and we just want to acknowledge that again with this award ceremony. Please don't think of it as anything too formal beyond that," Renamon implored. "We all just like any excuse to celebrate, if you want to see it that way. And it'll give Digimon a better impression of humans in the end. There's no harm in doing this, I assure you."

"If you insist..."

"Also, as we're aware that you'll have to be leaving soon, would you have time tomorrow to attend a town hall meeting? I'm sure it would be a great boon to get some input from someone recently from the human world."

"You guys even run town hall meetings..." Tohma said with widened eyes.

"Of course. It's where we make decisions on many of the big changes that occur in this city," Renamon said, raising a gloved paw in front of his face and revealing the yin-yang symbol that was on it. "I'm not a mayor just to have the title, I'll have you know."

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, I gotta ask you guys about the boxing center..."

"Sounds like something you should bring up at the meeting," Tohma said, cutting in on Masaru's train of thought. "You've been to these too?"

"Once or twice, I think... you know I don't know the first thing about politics or whatever."

"It was a long time ago, but I remember the last time Masaru went to one of these," Piyomon recounted, giggling behind a wing. "He completely knocked out the Toucanmon ambassador from the central lands for badmouthing our people. And then he fell asleep in the second half."

"Hey, I was really busy and tired back then with all these followers hounding me with every little thing..."

"We're just lucky enough that the Toucanmon were still willing to come here to do business afterwards. Now they're the biggest proponents of the idol goods market in Digicon Valley." Piyomon threw Masaru a bit of a smug look, in which Masaru just rolled his eyes in response.

"Hey, I came to the rescue for one of those Toucanmon the other day. I made up for it."

"This ought to be interesting..." Tohma said with a nod. "Count me in."

"Really?" Masaru said in slight disbelief. "You're okay with something like THAT on your last afternoon here? Wouldn't you rather check out other parts of the city?"

"Personally, I see it as getting a greater variety of experiences here. Sightseeing is nice and all, but If I can do something even more than just sightseeing, that's all for the better. And as Renamon mentioned, it would give Digimon a better impression of us humans. That's enough reason for me to try it out."

"If you say so..."

In the back of Masaru's mind, he was thinking of plenty of other things they could do besides sightseeing, but he shook his head to keep those thoughts from lingering too long.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"Nothing too formal, he said..." Tohma said probably only to himself, but Masaru heard him nonetheless.

The two humans and Gaomon found themselves on a Brachimon once again, heading down the street as many of the Digimon they had seen performing at the concert just the night before surrounded them with an encore performance of sorts. Interestingly enough, Lilamon wasn't among them (Gaomon noted that she was likely 'resting'). Crowds of other Digimon joined in the noise of the streets, cheering and whistling as they came by on their way to the central plaza.

"I thought these formalities were something you'd already be long used to, O Prince Norstein," Masaru said a bit playfully.

"Even if I'm used to it, it doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it... And I'm not a prince. There's a difference between being a nobleman and being-"

"I know, I know. But you're sort of a prince to me anyway, you know."

Tohma held his breath for a sharp moment. Masaru had said it so casually...

Surely, many others have said something similar to the blond before. But when it came from Masaru, in that easygoing, yet somehow... completely serious tone... everything hit him differently.

As the Brachimon rode on and the two men sat practically back-to-back on the massive saddle, Tohma's hand made contact with Masaru's. Silently, Tohma moved his hand over Masaru's and let it remain there for the rest of the ride. Masaru was surprised at first, jerking his hand away ever so slightly... But he soon moved it back into place, accepting the warmth from Tohma's hand. 

Cheers and whistles continued to surround them the entire way. Cheers and whistles to the Digital World, while the two were in their own little world for just a fleeting moment...

Once they reached the center fountain, Renamon, Piyomon, and a small number of other important-looking (at least it was the only way Masaru would describe it) Digimon greeted them as they stepped off of Brachimon. One of them, a Swanmon, gave Masaru a curtsy as he passed by.

"Oh Masaru dear, it's been so long since you've stopped by. And you've got a friend with you too!" She reached out to Masaru with her two wings. "Is this gathering for him?"

"Hello, old lady Swanmon," Masaru took hold of the wings in a handshake of sorts. "Yep, he's the highlight of the event here. His name's Tohma."

"A pleasure to meet you, Swanmon," Tohma said with a practiced bow. His eyes met with Swanmon's as he stood back up.

"Ohh! What a charmer." Swanmon lifted a wing in front of her beak as if to hide her smile.

"Eheh..." Masaru gaped subtly. That nobleman's 'charm' worked on Digimon, too?

They exchanged introductions with the other important-looking Digimon--Pandamon, and the Liamon from the other day, who noted that they would be at the town hall meeting the next day and that they looked forward to seeing them again there. Masaru gave his thanks to Liamon for helping them out the other day... Meanwhile, Tohma admitted he didn't even remember seeing the lion Digimon, but Liamon seemed to pay no mind.

Piyomon used a mega speaker to give a speech on Tohma and Gaomon's deeds, also acknowledging Masaru's assistance during the ordeal. It was a sappy and slightly exaggerated speech by any standard, and certainly moreso when considering Piyomon was a cheerful fellow, but not normally THAT talkative. The crowds of Digimon started hollering wildly before he finished however, as the ground started shaking below.

"Piyomon..." Renamon said with a tone of severity. "I thought you said you had this scheduled to happen later..."

"I thought I did! I told Swanmon to do it..." Piyomon shot a look at the other bird Digimon who was with the group of 'important' Digimon behind him.

"Oh, to turn back the wheel for the fountain? I don't have the hands to do it..." Swanmon flapped a wing in emphasis.

"I don't either, but I still manage to do it when I'm supposed to!" Piyomon barked.

Arguing was pointless by then though, as moments later, meat bones started popping out of the fountain, and most everyone started a frenzied battle for their fill. Masaru and the others skedaddled their way out of the area.

"I know you didn't get to the award presentation, but I'd say it's for the better..." Tohma said to Renamon when they were finally out of the range of the noisome crowds. "We can try this again some other time once I've done something to actually earn it.

"You really think you didn't earn some recognition with this?" Masaru semi-teased. "You legit saved a Digimon's life with your own hands. How's that compared to me who just punched a bunch of spiders?"

Tohma shook his head. "I suppose it's selfish of me to say, but I'd just prefer if the recognition were based on something I've been purposefully working towards."

"Mm... like finding a cure for your sister then."

"Yes..."

Masaru smiled. "I'm sure it'll happen."

Maybe it was the atmosphere from all the celebrating Digimon around them... Masaru felt like it had been a long while since he could say something with such pure optimism.

Tohma returned the smile, and the fighter felt light on the inside all of a sudden.

"C'mon, Masaru. Might as well join in on the banquet, even though it started a bit early!" Piyomon piped up. "That ramen cart you really like is here, this way!"

"Ah! Seriously?! I couldn't find them at all this week, so I thought they weren't in town or something..." Masaru left his mouth hanging open with glee, immediately locking arms with Tohma and following the pink bird.

"We called them back in after you came. It took a while for them to arrive, that's all!"

They moved past some of the crowd to the ramen cart, where there was already a line of Digimon waiting to get their portable bowl to eat up.

They had come to the celebration on a hungry stomach in preparation for the feast, but the delight in Masaru's eyes was quite the sight for Tohma to behold. The brunet noticed the blond staring at him as they waited.

"Missed this ramen too, I imagine?" Tohma commented.

Masaru scratched his cheek, slightly embarrassed. "The Digivice only serves up the instant kind when it comes to ramen."

"What if I told you I've never had ramen? Neither from a restaurant nor instant?"

"No way..."

"I'm kidding."

Masaru widened his eyes after the fact. "Your jokes are weird..."

"I have your father to thank for that one."

"You went out to eat ramen with him?"

"Yes, several times."

"Hmmm..."

"To think, you left to be here as soon as he came back, after being missing for ten whole years..." Tohma mused. "It's like you two switched places."

Masaru tilted his head. "I hadn't really thought of it that way..." he admitted. "How did he do... Coming back to the other side after being gone for so long?"

"Well, unlike you, he already had a knack for picking up new technology, so I wouldn't say he had much of a difficult time overall..."

"Oi, oi..."

Tohma recounted a few tales of meeting up with Daimon Suguru over bowls of ramen, leaving Masaru with just enough to imagine what else the two might've talked about in private. Although Tohma was giving him quite a few details, it still felt like he was leaving something out...

"Did you two ever talk about me, besides about just having me come back to the human world and all that?"

"...I'll leave that to your imagination. I shouldn't need to indulge you with EVERYTHING the two of us talked about..."

Masaru pouted, knowing it was just fair reasoning.

The subject otherwise carried them through the line wait, and they all got their fill of ramen.

The Tropiamon from the other day approached them as soon as they left the line, licking the remaining broth off his bowl of ramen with his snake-like tongue. "I was gonna head home today, but I had to stick around when I heard they were going to put on a banquet for you guys! So glad I did!"

Masaru recalled a small bit from the dream he had earlier that morning, about his personal to-do list... "Glad to see you're having a good time here, Tropiamon... It'll be my turn to visit your hometown the next chance I get."

"Oh really? Come find me when you do. I'll show you around!"

They exchanged grins, and Masaru offered a fist bump as well. Tropiamon understood and returned the fist bump before moving through the crowds again.

"Masaru the ambassador strikes again," Tohma said to the brunet as the large Digimon dissolved into the sight of the crowd.

Masaru thought briefly, if only all conflicts were just that easy to solve...

Piyomon finished slurping up his ramen in one fast swoop. "You guys can take it easy until the town hall meeting tomorrow. Have any other plans today?"

"There're still plenty of shops and whatnot we haven't been to, but it's not like we absolutely HAVE to go to any of them," Masaru noted. "I'm way more interested in getting in on some action... Man, if the boxing center were still open..."

"You could always use the one in my mansion if you were back home."

"Yeah, that's definitely nowhere near here, Tohma," Masaru replied with an edge of sarcasm. "Well, it's fine for now since we've got... other things we can do..."

.....

His mind started wandering into areas not suitable for the mealtime, and he ended up chomping down on his ramen faster to distract himself.

After finishing, Masaru noticed Tohma looking over to where Renamon was, humbly eating with Piyomon and the other town hall members within the crowded plaza area.

"Masaru, you know the other three Digimon over there with Renamon? They mentioned that they're going to be at the town hall tomorrow, so I was wondering if you had any stories to share about them."

"Oh yeah, absolutely. Actually, you already know Pandamon, the one that likes quizzes."

"Aah, that one. He's a clever guy to have here."

"And then Swanmon... you know where Digieggs ended up when DATS sent them back to the Digital World, back in the day?"

"Well, depending on the type of Digimon they originally were, they were sent to designated points that were established when Daimon Suguru had sent blueprints for the Digivices. But I've personally never seen what was at the designated points..."

"They were sent to the Village of Beginnings, as the Digimon call it..." Masaru explained. "They were basically giant nurseries, scattered throughout the Digital World. And each of those nurseries had a caretaker Digimon. This Swanmon was from one of those villages. Since the nurseries aren't as busy anymore, some of the caretakers were looking for a new purpose in life. A good number of them are working around here now, I think..."

"Wow, you really have been busy here."

"As for the last one, Liamon... Well, look at him. What's he look like to you?"

Tohma did as Masaru asked. "Well, according to the DigiWindow, he's an Adult-level Digimon that looks very much like a lion. A lion..."

"A lion."

"But I'm sure there are plenty of other lion Digimon that might be... THAT one. How can you be so sure?"

"Well, it's just like the case with Drimogemon. He doesn't have any memories of his previous life, and his personality is a bit different... He's not a banchou for now, but he's definitely still a man among men."

Tohma took another look at the group, seeing things in a changed perspective.

"Didn't really expect to see him interested in being part of the town hall and things like that, but there he is," Masaru continued. "I don't know how many years it'll take for BanchouLeomon to come back... but I think he's got what it takes."

They watched for a little while longer, after which Masaru sighed.

"Look at them all enjoying the meat fountain... Kind of makes me wish HippoGryphomon would have come here after all."

"You could invite her again the next time you see her."

"I guess, but I can't force her. A man lets the woman decide for herself in the end."

"And men don't get a choice?"

"Ah... Well, anyone has the freedom to choose, really..."

"Is that so."

"You really like to rub it in sometimes, don't you..."

"At least you're conscious of it now. It's not just going right over your head like it would in our younger days."

"YOU on the other hand... We gotta work on that aristocrat obliviousness you put out sometimes."

"My... What?"

"See? That's exactly what I mean. It goes over YOUR head 'cause you're still completely unaware of it! You're just lucky for now since your nobility doesn't matter in the Digital World in the first place."

Tohma just smiled. "I'm honestly quite glad for that..."

Masaru, however, pouted. He couldn't really retort the matter any further. 

"As I mentioned before, I'd rather be acknowledged for my own deeds, done by my own intentions. I don't want my family name to be the reason why I've come so far... Just the same reason why I don't need a celebration for something that happened purely by accident..."

"Yeah..."

Right, because as long as Tohma was here in the Digital World, none of his 'Norstein' nobleman status stuff could help him here.

Yet... Masaru rode on his father's coattails in the Digital World in the past. HE was the one guilty of taking advantage of someone else's work...

Tohma though... Tohma worked his own ass off to get here. He was working his ass off to reach his goals, as many years as it would take, while Masaru was still just getting through day by day...

No, Masaru had his own goals too, and they weren't meant to be belittled compared to Tohma's. They were meant to rival each other, keep each other motivated. There were things Masaru could do that Tohma couldn't, and vice versa. 

"I'm starting to see why you're so stubborn about me taking up the 'Messiah' title here."

"Oh?"

"Just being the 'savior' feels like a one-time gig. And you'd be right then, since I only did that one thing that made all this happen, and I haven't really been around to shape it beyond that... But if I wanted it, I'm only getting started here. There's still a lot that can happen..."

"So you're starting to see it... Being the Messiah is just the starting point. You just have to move past that starting point..." Tohma reached out to the brunet with a hand. "Can you show me you've got what it takes?"

Masaru swiftly took the extended hand with a bit of an awkward but firm grasp from his own. "If you keep putting ideas into my head, I'll just have to."

"Ideas, you say..."

Masaru pulled back. "You know, about expanding the city to get the boxing center back and things like that. If I can't get the guys at the town hall tomorrow to see my side of things... I might just have to do it."

"Hmph, you really would. You certainly have something special that I'd never be able to emulate."

"Says the person who already has his own personal boxing area in his fancy mansion."

"I'll have you know I'm just using the resources available to me so I can prioritize my efforts on other matters that need it..."

"Suuure. Well, goes to show that we roll in different ways for the same thing in the end, and that's just how it is with us," Masaru said with a laugh.

Their end goals were the same, indeed... Harmony between both worlds. Even if their methods working towards that goal were completely different...

"We'll make it happen, right? Someday, we'll bring these two worlds together, and then we'll be able to see each other whenever we want..." Masaru gave Tohma a long and pensive look.

"You sure know it," Tohma replied with a smile, taking a leaf out of Masaru's style of positivity.

"Well, regardless of whether this award ceremony happened or not, you definitely have my thanks for helping out those Digimon. I'm sure the mood around here today would be a lot less cheerful... and I'd be having a pretty bad time right now if it weren't for you."

"......"

Things would've been so very, very different if Tohma hadn't shown up to be with him this week...

Being together as they were for the moment, seeing the combination of their methods starting to take shape... Masaru felt an odd thrill run down his spine as he thought about it.

He let the words spill out, raw out of his mind. "There's still so much for us to do together..."

"Hmm?"

Once again thinking back on what they were doing just the previous night, a rush of heat made its way to Masaru's face, and he found himself having to back away from the crowds.

"Masaru?" came Tohma's voice of concern.

"Tohma... If we really have the rest of the day to ourselves, I..."

He grabbed the nobleman's hand once more as he continued backing away from the crowds. But instead of being a gesture of a handshake, a bro fist, a provision of idle comfort, or security to avoid getting separated, he made an extra point to rub the inside of Tohma's accepting palm with his thumb.

Tohma recognized the heat from Masaru's hold and visually reacted to the sensitive part of his hand getting rubbed. He called Gaomon back into his Digivice and followed the brunet without another word.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

They turned in early that night, as Masaru sensed he couldn't hold himself back anymore. As long as Tohma had no objections, he was in for another night of non-stop affection until the both of them would collapse.

It was never enough. No matter how much he felt the heat of Tohma's skin upon his own, he couldn't get enough.

Tohma's hands on him, Tohma's frame leaning into him, Tohma's voice huffing closely near him, gently shaking his core with unrestrained words of desire... All of it, he wanted.

And Tohma would just keep giving it. Over and over, each time with even more need than previous. Each time, with ever-increasing intensity.

He still wanted more. He wanted so much more...


End file.
